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CHARLES D. FIEIvD 



Three Years in the Saddle 

From 1861 to 1865 



MEMOIRS OF CHARLES D. FIELD 



Thrilling Stories of the War 
In Camp and on the Field of Battle 



The Cavalry Soldier— Scout and Dispatch Bearer-- 
Private, Non-Commissioned Officer--Commander of Skirm- 
ish Lines. In over Thirty Engagements--Hospital Life, etc. 



By CHARLES D. FIELD 



(Copyrighted) 







COPV^,:i, 



,F45i 



Three Years in the Saddle 



MEMOIRS OF CHARLES D. FIELD. 



I enlisted in the service of the United States at Joliet, IlHnois, 
September 20th, 1861, and went with my company to St. Louis, 
Missouri, and into camp in Abbey Race Course as the 9th Company 
of Fremont Hussars, or, as they were formerly called, Fremont's 
Body Guard. We formed into the second Battalicfn which was 
commanded by Major Knott. The first battalion was commanded 
by Major Zagongi. Both battalions were drilling their horses at 
the Abbey Race Course for about three weeks. Here, also, T had 
my first experience of a night in camp. We reached camp about 
ir o'clock P. M., and received our orders to take a wedge-shaped 
tent which would accommodate about four men. We had no blank- 
ets and only about two inches of straw on the ground. Soon after 
reaching camp it began to rain. When the reveille sounded for the 
break of day I awoke to find myself in about four inches of water. 
Soon after our arrival at Abbey Race Course our horses were as- 
signed to us which were purchased by Freemont. General Free- 
niont selecting them in person. We drew no clothing from this 
camp except caps and boots. 

We were moved shortly afterward and took up camp in the 
amphitheatre. Our company at the time consisted of about thirty 
men, commanded by W. W. Danforth as Captain, and Ira B. Swain 
1st Lieutenant. These officers were very strict with their men and 
would enlist no man who indulged in any kind of intoxicating 
liquors. W'e had another trouble which proved to be of great im- 
portance to all concerned. We were obliged to detail our own 
cook from the ranks and as our pastry knowledge was slightly neg- 
lected in our early training, we found it somewhat difficult to eat 
this class of provisions, consequently we made arrangements to 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



hire an experienced cook, after living about a week in this way up- 
on the ratons furnshed by the Government (as we were allowed 
no other at this time.) The boys appetites began to gain a con- 
trolling command over them as from the heights of the ampi- 
theatre they could see acres of cabbage and potatoes and their un- 
easiness was increased somewhat by the orders that no one should 
be allowed to pass the gate or cross the fence without a pass from 
the commanding officer. In spite of this order, however, one morn- 
ing the old cook was surprised to find his cook shanty full of cab- 
bage and sweet potatoes, but the officer failed to find out how they 
got there. If they had asked the author of this work they would 
have found one who knew too well how they came there. This 
was our first foraging expedition. We remained in camp in the am- 
phitheatre until November ist, passing our time principally in drill- 
ing new recruits, which we were constantly receiving from the 
North. We could not be permitted to enjoy peace and happiness 
with our officers for any length of time and one day we were 
grieved with the sad news of Freemont being removed from com- 
mand at St. Louis. General Hallock succeeded him. About this 
time an order came from the War Department that all troops 
should be credited to their own states, and as we were not a full 
company at this time we received orders to report at Dixon, Illinois, 
under Colonel Dement. On our way to Dixon we went to Bloom- 
ington over the Chicago & Alton and entered camp at the I. C. 
crossing, and being the first soldiers who were seen going North 
who had been in the service, it created no little curiosity as we had 
our camp equipage, consisting of two camp kettles and an old 
bread knife having a saw on one side and knife blade on the other. 
We carried no weapons with us and we were only partly uniformed 
but all had cavalry boots. Amos Bowers who was the only uni- 
formed man among us, carried the bread knife in one of his boot 
legs. He, taking the liberty of stepping upon the platform at every 
station, would meet a great many basket peddlers with pies and 
cakes. Many of these men were strong, abled bodied persons, and 
Rowers would take hold of the basket handle and draw out his 
bread knife. l"he man, invariably thinking his time had come, 
would drop the basket and run. As we were only provided with 
one day's rations Bowers filled a very important post by providing 
rations in this way for our company on nearly the whole trip. Our 
first night in Normal we were somewhat surprised, — after our cook 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



had prepared our evening meal the ladies of the town came out and 
insisted on us to go and eat with them, which we were all glad 
enough to do. 

Colonel Dement was raising an Infantry Regiment at this 
place. Dixon being within about sixty miles of my home. I, in 
company with my brother, W. F. Reed, asked for a furlough. Our 
Captain urged our case for us but none could be obtained. He told 
me, however, to take my brother and go outside the lines at night 
and go home and when we received a letter from him we were to 
report immediately. After taps that night we went outside 
the lines and our elder brother met us in Dixon and we rode home 
with him, arriving there about 6:00 P. W . the next day. We had 
only 48 hours stay before we received orders to report at once at a 
certain number on Randolph street, Chicago, which we regretfully 
complied with. This was made headquarters of the 13th Regiment, 
Illinois Cavalry, to which our company was assigned. The next 
day I, in comany with nine of my comrades, were ordered to re- 
cruit within the limits of Chicago and thus help fill our company 
and regiment. We had a sign over the door of the headquarters 
which read as follows: "Men wanted for three years or during the 
war; 160 acres of land will be given to each soldier and if any 
are disabled, a pension for life." I recruited seven men during our 
stay on Randolph street and in the two weeks of our stay our com- 
l^any increased from thirty to eighty men. 

We were then ordered to Camp Douglas where we remained 
during the winter. We were officered with Willis Danforth, Cap- 
tain, and Ira B. Swain, ist Lieutenant, and we were assigned as 
company "F," 2nd Battalion, 13th Illinois Cavalry Regiment Vol- 
unteers. While in Camp Douglas we were drilled four hours a day 
as a company of dismounted cavalry. About January ist, 1862, we 
drew our second change of horses (having left our horses in St. 
Louis,) and drilled them in company and battalion drills for about 
two or three weeks. Although the winter was very cold we made 
several parades through the streets of Chicago with the full regi- 
ment. Our regiment at this time contained about 800 men and was 
organized into two battalions, commanded by Joe Bell of Washing- 
ton, D. C, who received his commission direct from President 
Lincoln. Our Lieutenant Colonel was Hartman, formerly Major 
of the ist Battalion, which was known as Harfman's Dragoons, 
^lajor Lipport of Chicago was Major of the 1st Battalion and 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



Charles A. Bell was Major of the second Battalion. Joe Bell was 
called "Jo. Bell of Tennesee." He could not receive a commission 
in an Illinois regiment direct from the president. He was recom- 
mended by the Secretary of war, Simon Cameron to Geo. Yates for 
a commission. We were mustered as a regiment about the 20th of 
January, 1862. We received orders about February ist, to report 
at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri. Our transportation car- 
ried us over the Chicago Alton & St. Louis Railroad. Owing to a 
scarcity of cars we were obliged to load our horses and find a seat 
for ourselves on the top of the cars. We were all willing to unload 
when Alton, Illinois, was reached, being nearly blind with smoke 
and cinders — it was not the most comfortable palace car such as 
could be obtained on the same route to-day. From Alton we took 
passage by steamboat on the Mississippi to St. Louis, where we 
found Col. Sherman in command. We were assigned quarters in 
Benton Barracks where we remained several days drilling and pre- 
paring our wagon train. We were inspected frequently by the com- 
mander. Col. Sherman, who was inspector of the camp. He came 
into camp one day shortly after one of the basket peddlers had been 
in, disguised in citizen's clothes (this was the first sight I gained 
of Sherman.) llie boys had purchased some of the pies and cakes 
and were busying themselves eating their purchases and imitating 
the peddlers whose song ran "pies and cakes," and not recognizing 
the Colonel in citizens clothes, were about to order him from the 
room when he was recognized by some one and the boys went on 
with their song until it came out as poison cake and that it proved 
to be such was apparently true as we were nearly sick. The 
Colonel issued an order forbidding the sale of such articles in the 
camp. 

On March 9th, 1862, we were ordered to march to Pilot Knob. 
Our mules were unbroken and some of the teams had never been 
hitched up before and as the mud and clay were deep it took all 
day to reach Jefferson Barracks which was al^out twelve miles 
south of St. Louis. (J) wing to the condition of our teams the wagon 
train was strung along the entire route, others into trees and some 
stuck in the mud. It took two days for the entire train to come up. 
We found onlv a ])art of a regiment of regulars at this place. The 
distance l^etween St. Louis and Iron Mountain was about 100 miles, 
but it took us twelve days to make the distance and get our train 
through. ( )n the 21st of March we entered camp at the foot of the 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



mountain between Pilot Knob and Ironton. Company "F" was 
assigned to Fort Hovey, Arcadia, which is about two miles from 
Pilot Knob. The first battalion was ordered to Black River. Fort 
Hovey contained only four siege guns of 2)2 lbs each. It had been 
built by the 33rd Illinois Infantry during the previous winter. Up- 
on our arrival Capt. Danforth of our company took command. Our 
principal duty was field drill with our horses. We also had a squad 
training with the siege guns. There being considerable room in 
the fort we were able to keep our horses and camp equipage inside 
the fort. Our quarters consisted of Sibley tents. While here we 
suffered the loss of two of our best men. 

One morning we received an order to fire a salute of fourteen 
guns in honor of Major General Smith, who had been killed in the 
Army of the Tennessee. Our company bugler, Richard Osbrook, 
was detailed to man the gun which was to be fired at the rate of one 
shot a minute. The gun was so posted that the muzzle pointed 
over the fort. Myself and a comrade not being on detail, were sit- 
ting outside the fort and directly under the muzzle of the gun act- 
ing as time keepers. After firing a few shots, owing to the rusty 
condition of the gun and the rapid use to which it was put at this 
time, it became so hot that it ignited the cartridge before it was 
half way down when the gun went oft' at half time. We jumped 
from our seat and looking up, saw an object sailing through the 
air which proved to be the ramrod and cap of comrade Osbrook. 
On climbing into the fort we found the gun standing with the muz- 
zle nearly straight in the air and our poor comrade who was thumb- 
ing the breech was wedged between the log's of the fort and the 
breech of the dismounted gun. Comrade Osbrook, who was one of 
the men with the ramrod, had both his arms torn oft' and his eyes 
blown out. Pie died six hours afterward. 

We did a great deal of mounted drill work during our stay at 
Fort Hovey. Among our other feats, we were compelled to prac- 
tice target shooting with our horses on the run. Several sham bat- 
tles were fought in the woods. Our main army was scattered and 
there was but few troops left in Ironton or Arcadia at that time. 
There were several bands of guerillas between there and Iron 
Mountain which harrassed the country so much that we had to 
keep scouting nearly all the time. I was on several occasions de- 
tailed with these expeditions. Upon one occasion (*apt. Danforth 
with about twenty men, while riding along Horse Shoe Creek, 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



drove' a band of the guerrillas into the top of a mountain, where 
it was impossible to reach them with their carbines. The bandits 
defied all attempts which were made to capture them as firing on 
them would be useless. 

A few days afterward we drew long range rifles from an old 
Arsenal building in Iron Mountain. Capt. Danforth took his com- 
pany into, the field and practiced 'with long range rifles at target 
shooting for two days. During this time he received an order to 
capture the bandits, so he detailed five of the best marksmen in the 
command to carry out this order. I was placed on this detail. We 
started at night with three days' rations a guide and our horses. 
W'e traveled until about three o'clock when upon reaching the top 
of one of the mountains, we were left with these instructions "No 
prisoners to be taken." About one half to three fourths of a mile 
down the valley was a house where three noted guerrillas lived, 
and a little farther down the valley stood another small house 
where a poor woman and her three children liA'cd. Her husband 
being loyal to his country and his flag had joined the ist Indiana 
Cavalry during the previous year. She would take her babe and 
ride to Ft. Hovey. a distance of about twenty miles, and liring us 
information of these guerrilla bands which were continually raid- 
ing this section of the country. It was through the loyalty of this 
woman that we were able to locate theil" jiosition and habits. 

( )n arriving at the top of one of the highest mountains in the 
country and being left with only our army rations and guide, we 
posted our sentinels and turned in. At about daylight we sur- 
rounded the house and searched the premises but all we could find 
was three women and three or four children. Giving up the search 
and forbidding anyone to leave the house, we feigned to lea\'e the 
place and leturned into the mountains posting one man in possi- 
tion as sentinel to watch all movements around the house. Nothing 
appeared about the place during the day. As soon as we could 
m(ne under the cover of darkness three of us went down and slept 
in an old corn crib which stood about ten feet from the house. One 
of us kept watch while the others slept. The rest of our party went 
to the other house and slept there during the night, but no progress 
was made in the raid during the night, and we were together again 
in the mountain the next day in sight of the house and the woman 
would come out at regular intervals and shout. We also discov- 
ered a tall pole in front of the house with a white rag on it. On* 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



■making this discovery, I told Sergeant Church that the flag* was a 
signal and I thought it ought to be torn down. Church consented 
and we went to the house again and searched for provisions which 
we found in quantity sufficient to last us during our siege. We 
then proceeded to tear down the flag. While I was in the act of 
tearing the rags from it the boys in the house hallooed. On turning 
around I saw one of the women, who was as large and muscular 
a woman as could be found, with club about six feet long making 
l)reparations to strike me. I guarded the blow and drawing my re- 
volver I crowded her against the hojise. This was evidently a sig- 
nal as they were all enraged at it being destroyed. We forbade any- 
thing of the kind being raised and ordered them to abstain from 
hallooing. They had a hound which bothered our sentinel as it al- 
ways stayed under the floor of the house, in such a place it was im- 
possible to get at him. Owing to the scarcity of provisions in the 
house, we quickly decided on a plan to get possession of him. Ser- 
geant Church told them if they would lend him the hound they 
would go out for a hunt and divide the game. They brought out 
the hound and we started out into the woods where we shot him. 
as it would not have been safe for any of us to go near him alone. 
While we were here we did not build any fires but took turns go- 
ing down to the other woman's house and having our provisions 
prepared, as our camp was also furnishing her with provisions from 
the quartermaster from Ft. Hovey. The next day, however, our ra- 
tions, as well as hers, ran short. 

Our orders were to remain there until troops came after us, but 
this we knew would be uncertain as some detachment must capture 
the guerrillas ])efore they would send for us, so we held a council 
of war as to what we should do about provisions. Our guide was 
a man well acquainted in the vicinity but he was never recognized 
at any hV»use we had visited. When Sergeant Church asked him 
where we would be most likely to get provisions he said, 'T know 
of only one place and they have plenty to spare. It is an old farmer 
who lives about a mile and a half down the creek, but he has three 
sons who belong to Reeves' Guerrilla l>and" I asked him if he 
would go with me and see if he could get anything. He said he 
would. So taking two haversacks each we started off down the 
creek bottom. As we were passing through the woods he asked 
me what we would do if they were at home. W^l said I we will 
not go then. We were almost to their corn field, which was sur- 



10 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

rounded by a high rail fence. At the edge of the clearing we crept 
up to the fence from which we could plainly see the house. There 
were four or five men planting corn in a field just to the left of the 
house. As soon as my guide saw them he said that the three sons 
were at home. I then asked him if he could pilot me around to the 
other side of the house so that we could approach from the timber. 
We followed this plan and approached the house from the opposite 
side than that which we first anticipated. Although these three men 
were in plain sight of the house they knew nothing of our presence 
until after we had gone. Upon .approaching the house we found the 
landlord to be an elderly gentleman who was sitting in the shade 
watching the men toiling in the field. Probably his mind was 
wandering to the glorious deed of heroism his sons had committed 
down the valley. He did not notice our approach until we were 
close to him. We asked him for flour, bacon and ham and several 
other necessities. . He said we might have some so the guide fol- 
lowed him in while I stayed near the corner of the house where I 
could watch the men. The front door being open I was able to lo- 
cate the gun rack full of guns under the bed and as long as I could 
guard that gun rack I was not very much afraid. We filled our 
haversacks as full as we could with flour, bacon etc., which the old 
gentleman weighed upon his steelyards and was very careful to 
be exact in his weights. While he was summing up the bill we 
placed the haversacks upon our shoulders ready for a start. He 
soon told us the amount of our purchases, but instead of paying 
him we told him he would have to call on Quartermaster Dyre of 
Iron Mountain for his pay. Why, says he the Yankees are there 
and I have never seen them. I have not been up there since they 
came, but I recken I will have to go before long for I am out of 
salt. If you ever get your pay you will have to go there for it as 
Quartermaster Dyer keeps me iu supplies, and I pay for nothing 
in the field. 'AA'hat" says he, "Are you one of them"? We con- 
cluded we had stayed as long as we wanted to and leaping the 
fence we took to the woods and arrived safe in camp by a round 
about way with our precious burden. After this we were obliged 
to be more cautious, but the men, however, knew nothing of our 
forbidding the women to leave the house. 

In the evening as the three of us were sitting at supper in the 
woman's house, or our headquarters, a man stepped into the road 
in front of our sentinel who was ordered to halt, and advancing, he 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 11 

knelt down and begged us to spare his life. After we had cap- 
tured him he proved to be a son-in-law of the old gentleman who 
had been so kind as to supply us with rations. He said he lived 
sixty miles from there and the day before he had received news that 
the troops had killed his brothers-in-law and that they were left 1}^- 
ing in the woods so he had come to find them. He was, however, 
ordered to retrace his steps immediately. 

There were two or three platoons of cavalry from Fort Hovey 
scouring the country in search of this band of guerrillas. That 
night we discovered a cave in the mountain about twenty rods from 
the woman's house which was divided up into regular rooms almost 
like a house. We felt no little uneasiness on investigating this 
cave as it extended to a great distance in the mountain. After sat- 
isfying ourselves that it was empty a part of our men slept in it 
the rest of the night. Early in the morning we found a trail or 
foot path over the mountain which our guide and three men were 
to follow until 12 M. Sergeant Church and myself were left to 
watch the house, he taking the first watch. I had hardly fallen 
asleep when he looking down awoke me and said the guerrillas had 
come in. We concealed ourselves behind trees to watch four men 
come from the house armed with shot guns and rifles and start 
down the valley towards our headquarters. Church and I being 
out of range hesitated a little about following them as it would be 
an uneven game of two to one, but concealing our movements as 
much as possible we followed about twenty rods behind them until 
they entered the other house. Soon we heard something behind us 
and we found it to be our guide and comrades who had followed us 
down the valley. In a few minutes the soldiers wife came out of 
the house and looked anxiously in our direction. Presently the 
men followed. We were all ready to fire on them but hesitated, 
fearing we might be wrong. In order to find out positively I. 
stepped from behind the tree in plain sight of them. The instant 
they saw me they laid their guns down and raised their hands. We 
marched up and took them. They proved to be union men. While 
Sergeant Church was examining their oath of allegiance we de- 
stroyed their guns and our guide said they were all right. They 
were well pleased at finding us for they did not know that there 
were any union troops in the valley, as the guerrilla bands had 
stripped the valley of all servicable property for the confederate 
army. 



12 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



That night the woman at our headquarters was uneasy and al 
supper she asked Church to provide a guard of two or three men. 
At about 8 o'clock Church and myself w^ent over to the house. It 
only contained one room and the guerrillas had captured every- 
thing of value except one old horse which was chained with a log 
chain to one of the logs of the house. The house was very small 
and the woman declared she w-ould stand guard and compel us to 
sleep in the only bed, which was a very rude concern placed in one 
corner of the room and being conspicuous as the only piece of fur- 
niture exce])t a box for a table and a few three legged stools, so 
Church and I laid down on our blankets in front of the fire place. 
The guerrillas ahvays made their most noted moves under cover of 
darkness and on the night just mentioned at about 12 o'clock the 
woman awakened us and said they were coming, arousing us from 
a sound sleep. We could hear the sound of horses feet upon the 
solid road. The. woman had a quilt nailed across one corner form- 
ing a rude closet. The blaze of the fire place made escape by wa}' 
of the door impossible with an enemy so close, even then surround- 
ing the house. Sergeant Church and I speedily reached an imder- 
standing as to our defense, so springing behind the curtain or quill 
he would attack them in front while I took refuge behind the old 
wooden hinged door and was to cut ofif retreat when the last one 
had come in. Soon one of the horsemen rode up to the door and 
came so close that his horse's head could be plainly seen — he was 
not four feet from me. The head I thought was familiar to me and 
on the bridle I could see the U. S., but I could not see the rider, 
who, however, could not remain in silence long before he said : 
"Church, Field and Lander, are you here?" I recognized the voice 
and said: "Corporal Springer, is that you?" "It is," said he. I 
then asked him to dismount and come in, when he stepped in front 
of the fire place in ])lain sight of both of us. As soon as Sergeant 
Church caught sight of him he stepped out and took him by the 
hand. 

Corporal Springer ordered us to get the rest of the boys. .\s 
the mounted men had captured the gang that day our work in 
"Horse Shoe Valley" was over, and Captain Danforth had sent a 
platoon of men and our horses to return us to Fort Hovey, where 
we arri\ed at daybreak and found the gang l^ehind the bars in Iron 
Mountain jail. 

About two weeks after arriving at iron Mountain, Quarter- 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE- 1."^ 



master Dyre, who was an old acquaintance of Captain Danforth, 
one day came over to our quarters for a chat with the captain. Soon 
after his arrival I was ordered to report at headquarters. After the 
usual military formulas had been observed Quartermaster Dyre 
said: "A few days ago there chanced to come to my tent an elderly 
gentleman, a farmer by occupation, who told the following story : 
'.\ day or two ago there came to my house a couple of lads dressed 
after the fashion of yours and says they, "Can you let us have some 
bacon, ham and flour for we are clear out of everything to eat." I 
let them have what they wanted and they said to come to ye for the 
pay. I live in the Horse Shoe Country.' " "Do you know anything 
about this man. Fields?" asked Captain Danforth. I told him I 
thought I did and explained to them what I knew about the "Horse 
Shoe Farmer," and asked them if they paid the bill. "No," said 
Quartermaster Captain Dyer. "I did not expect or intend that you 
should," said I. We all had a good laugh over it at any rate. 
After this they said when they wanted any foraging done they 
would call on Field, who would give orders on the quartermaster. 

JUNE 8th, 1862. 

It was about this time that Captain Danforth was made Provost 
Marshal of Ironton and surrounding country. Daily arrivals of re- 
inforcements made matters more pleasant for a few days, during 
which time General Steele was concentrating his forces and re-ar- 
ranging his division, which was to become a portion of Major Gen- 
eral Curtis' army. I was placed on provost guard about a week after 
our captain's appointment as Provost Marshal of Ironton and Iron 
Mountain. Lieutenant G. Allen May was officer of the guard and 
while at headquarters on duty subject to his orders, we were in- 
formed that a brewery was selling liquor to the s oldiers between 
Ironton and Iron Mountain. Officer of the Guard Lieutenant Ma^- 
started with a platoon of Cavalry for the brewery which was located 
at the foot of Shepherd Mountain. The location of the brewery 
was such that the inhabitants could easily escape to the mountains 
Officer of the day ordered Sergeant Teals, Martin Luther and myself 
to dismount and arrest the brewery man and his assistant. We dis- 
mounted and went to the front door, which we found securelv 
locked, and started around to the rear of the building which was 
used as a kitchen. As we left the front door to go around to the 



14 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



back we found the ground covered with drunken soldiers who had 
I)ecome intoxicated !)}• liquor obtained from the brewery. We got 
into the kitchen and found the wife of the brewery man, a large, 
muscular German woman about 5 feet 4 inches tall and as stout as 
a horse. ( )ur platoon had succeeded in surrounding the house. We 
asked her where the proprietor was. She said he was up in the 
mountain. Sergeant Teale ordered her to call him, which she re- 
fused to do. Lieutenant -May then gave us orders to arrest her and 
take her to Pilot Knob. Sergeant Teale stepped up to her and told 
her to put on her wraps. She was standing near the stove upon 
which was a kettle of hot water which she seized and attempted to 
scald' him, and, wdien he threw up his hand to protect himself, he 
was assaulted in an entirely dilTerent way, for in the woman's quick 
perception she conceived the opportunity and caught his hand be- 
tween her teeth nearly severing the thumb from the hand and 
wounding him to such an extent that he bears the scar yet. ^lartin 
Luther, being a tall man, six feet and four inches, threw his arm 
around her neck and held her or she would have killed Sergeant 
locale, who was in great agony over his wound. Lieutenant May 
sat upon his horse laughing at the idea of one wt^man being enough 
for three of us. She finally consented to go if we would take a 
lantern and her children. She kept continually hallooing in Ger- 
man or I'^rench, I don't know wdiich, loud enough to be heard in 
town, so that when we reached the main road with her we were con- 
fronted -by a crowd of German and French armed with clubs and 
stones. We were expecting at any moment to be mobbed and I 
think our chance for a victory would have been slim as they were 
about five times our number. They did not tackle us, however, and 
we delivered her at head(|uarters in safety. My brother, \^^ F. 
Reed was placed in charge of the brewery and also the store in town 
which had been selling smuggled ammunition. 

Sergeant Teale had command of most of the mounted scouts 
which were sent out on the main road between Pilot Knob, Patter- 
son and the main ami}-. There had been a number of stragglers and 
dispatch bearers killed by some means, at this time wholly im- 
known to us, and were missed from the conunand near Shut In, or 
Stony Battery. Sergeant Teale was ordered out with a platoon to 
view the country and, as it afterwards proved, a young guerrilla 
had been the cause of those men being absent. Several efforts had 
been made to capture him but as many times he had escaped to the 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



woods which surrounded the house in which he and his young wife 
lived. At last Sergeant Teale selected his men carefully and set 
out with the determination of taking the guerrilla, either dead or 
alive. He having been there several times before, was a])le to give 
us a good description of the house and all the surroundings. At 
about lo o'clock our force, consisting of ten or a dozen men, left 
Fort Hovey and three hours later we were within a mile of the 
house which was a small log cabin upon a knoll surrounded by a 
clearing. So leaving our horses with a guide and posting our men 
as vedettes around the edge of the timber, Sergeant Teale and my- 
self crept some forty rods on our hands and knees that we might be 
enabled to take him by surprise. Reaching the door, which Teale 
knew by previous visits to be unlocked so he could easily escape 
as he had previously done, Sergeant Teale opened it and advanced 
to the bed where our man lay, holding his belt light in such a man- 
ner that all that could be seen by our prisoner was myself standing 
at the foot of the bed with my revolver in hand, and seeing no 
chance of escape he and his wife clinched and rolled in bed. It was 
impossible to get him up by coaxing. Wc took him from the bed 
by force and he trembled so much that we had to help him dress. 
His young wife screamed so loud that it brought our command out 
of the woods where they had been posted as vedettes, also our re- 
serves with the horses. His wife begged so for his life that we 
partly promised not to take it unless he' attempted to escape. We 
placed him upon a horse fastening him in the usual way for cavalr}' 
prisoners, mounted ours and started back to Iron Mountain, leaving 
her alone. For several miles we could hear her screaming above the 
clatter of our horses feet. It was nearly morning when we placed 
him in Iron Mountain jail where his comrade desperadoes had been 
placed a few days before. 

FORT HOVEY, 1862. 

Reception of Officers' Wives. 

About two weeks before we were to start on a march for Little 
Rock, Captain Danforth and Quartermaster Dyer's wives came for 
a short visit with their husbands before active field duty had actual- 
ly begun. In order to make this visit memorable the boys made 
arrangements for a banquet and a ball at a noted hotel. At that 
place the scene was an impressive one. 



16 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



1862. 
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! 

On the 14th of June we began our march southward under the 
command of Brig. Gen. Steele, passhig Patterson and crossing a 
branch of the Black River. We were unmolested until 
we were near Pocohontas where we had a sharp 
skirmish with a guerrilla band and killed about sixteen men. The 
first battalion of the 13th Cavalry was left at Pocohontas. The 2nd 
battalion again crossed Black River some distance south of the 
town by swimming. Corporal Stone acted as our pilot and the 
mounted battalion followed. We made a flat boat and ferried our 
wag'ons over. We had a number of mules drowned while swim- 
ming across. We met with nothing worthy of note until we 
reached Jacksonport, where the rebels had concentrated large stores 
of cotton and ammunition, provisions and clothing. L^pon our a])- 
proach these stores were fired and before we were able to subdue 
the flames they had consumed almost the entire town. 

Here we were consolidated with General Curtis' army which 
came from Batesville. The army was now organized as follows : 
General Curtis, commander; Brigadier General Steele, commander 
1st division; Carr, commander 2nd division, and Osterhaus, com- 
mander 3rd division. 

Our army now consisted of about 27.000 men who were placed 
upon the march July 3rd in the direction of Augusta which we 
reached the next day. after a very tedious march with the thermom- 
eter ranging at about 100. We sufifered terribly for want of water 
as the rebels had filled the wells up. We arrived at Augusta on 
July 4th. and as the weather was extremely' hot we were given a 
holiday so we all went swimming which proved to be an unfortun- 
ate occurence for some of our boys, as we missed some twenty-five 
of them on July 5th. We were only allowed two or three days re -I 
before we were placed on the march for Clarendon. Our army 
formed a procession about twenty-five miles long and made a con- 
tinuous cam]) for where our advance guard would camp one night 
our rear guard would camp the next. The weather was extremely 
hot and a band of rebels, whose duty it was to obstruct our march 
as much as ])()ssible, had blockaded the roads by felling huge tree.-> 
across it for a distance of about one half mile. After clearing a 
road across the blockade and reaching the ri\er we found it guard'Mi 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 17 

by about 5,000 Texas Rangers who were holding the ford from the 
opposite side. July 7th, 1862, a new advance guard was forn^ed 
under Col. Hovey, consisting of the 33rd Illinois and nth Wiscon- 
sin Infantry Regiments and a part of the ist Indiana Cavalry, who, 
after a sharp skirmish with the rebels succeeded in driving them on 
toward Cotton Plant, which was about two or three miles avay. 
When our battalion reached the crossing we could hear the noise of 
the conflict at Cotton Plant. 

On July 7th, 1862, at about 11 o'clock, our advance guarti 
struck the enemy in the woods surrounding an open field, a detailed 
description of which would show a plot of ground about two and 
one half miles across, surrounded by timber in a semi 'ri'xular 
shape and containing a cross road near the center. An old farm 
house stood near the road. On the south side of the road was a 
high rail fence which divided the field and was passable orily 
through a large gate at one of the main thoroughfares. Th s field 
was surrounded on all sides with a dense wood, which in turn vv.io 
compassed by one of the Arkansas Bayou swamps. When the ad- 
vance guard of the army reached the cross roads (they left ai this 
point a portion of the nth Wisconsin regiment, the remainder were 
thrown into an advance skirmish line in company with the 4th com- 
pany of the 33rd Regiment Illinois Infantry and one howitzer, 
under command of Col. Hovey) they turned to the left from the 
cross roads towards the woods in which the rebels were hiding in 
ambush awaiting our approach. 

Our skirmishers had traveled about three or four miles distant 
from the landing before halting, and were engaged nearly three 
hours before the main army was aware of any fighting. Curtis sup- 
posed that Hovey had marched a short distance into the woods and 
halted to await the arrival of the main army and we were leisurely 
crossing the river when we were startled by the report of guns in 
the distance. Gen. Curtis ordered the 2nd battalion to charge to 
the front, the general leading us in person for about a mile. He 
then left us with an order to make haste, which we did. charging 
upon the field with foaming horses. In order to get to the enemy 
it was necessary for us to pass through the large gate about which 
the four companies of nth \Visconsins had planted their howitzers 
which had twice been captured and recaptured. These brave Wis- 
consin boys were doing noble work although they were fighting 
a force which outnumbered the whole advance guard five to one. 



Ig THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

The remainder of the nth Wisconsin and the 33rd Illinois must 
not be forgotten. They were down in the edge of the woods where 
the conflict was raging heavier than at the gate. The enemy would 
charge through the entire line of battle and pass on through the open 
field. In this way they came in range of the reserve forces who 
greeted them with a raking cross fire. This was repeated until the 
main forces were seen huddling behind trees, each apparently form- 
ing an independent command figthing for self, each picking out his 
man, then vyatching him dodge down never to rise again 

When we entered the field the situation appeared most critical. 
The little howitzer had been captured by the rebel infantry and 
turned upon our boys. Our regiment formed in line of battle a 
short distance down the road and charged upon the rebel cavalry 
which had been posted upon the road to watch for our approach. 
Following these closely we charged up to the rail fence which was 
at this time held by the enemy. Upon our approach the enemy fled 
for refuge under cover of the woods. We were ordered to charge 
through the gateway where could be seen one of the most horrible 
scene ever witnessed in battle. There were at least two hundred 
bodies lying within ten rods of the gateway. They were so thick 
that it was impossible to get through before they were moved. 
These had fallen in stubborn resistance from bayonets and swords 
and pieces of rails which were used in hand to hand combats. The 
dead, wounded and dying were so thick that the ground was cov- 
ered with blood. We were obliged to pass through this way, our 
horses shying and leaping from the rows of bodies which we piled 
up on both sides. They became almost wild with fright. Thus we 
came upon the field of action in the relief of the main force, who, en- 
couraged by our approach, re-echoed our approaching "Hurrah" 
with such power only one who has been in the front can under- 
stand. 

We were not however, alone in the relief and rescue of the two 
companies who had ofifered such stubborn resistance to an army of 
more than 5,000 men, for their comrades had run the entire two 
miles to relieve them. We pursued the fleeing rebels for about two 
miles when skirmishing commenced and they were forced to re- 
treat to the cover of the swamps. The third Missouri Cavalry came 
up and we were ordered back to the field. While guarding the field 
I saw an officer lying with his head upon the hips of his horse. He 
was an officer of the enemy begging for a drink of water. One of 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 19 



my comrades having a little left in his canteen gave it to him while 
I held his horse, and in less than five minutes he fell over dead. 
General Hovey was wounded, having been surrounded by the ene- 
my with only a few men with him. They had then begun to gather 
up the dead and wounded as the field was ours. As it was growing 
dark we were again ordered through the gate. But the scene was 
now changed for on one side was the Blue and the other the Gray. 
During the night the 33rd Illinois and the nth Wisconsin buried 
the dead. Losses on both sides were about two hundred, of which 
two-thirds were Gray and one-third Blue. A Sergeant of the 33rd 
Illinois in command of a platoon was taken prisoner. His body 
was found about eighty rods from the point of his capture bound to 
a tree and litterally riddled with bullets. The enemy were supplied 
with \'er}- inferior arms, such as spears, lances, shot guns and scythe 
l)lades. Our company was placed on guard during the night with 
greatly reduced ranks as many of our men were lost while charging 
througii a field full of stumps by horses falling and the next man 
running over him. 

The mosquitoes were so thick in camp that there was no rest for 
anyone and it was made much harder because we had no rations. 
Our wagon train was being guarded in the rear and did not come 
up for forty eight hours. The next day we found that the enemy 
had retreated to the swamp under Ball's Blufif of White River so 
we took up our march toward Clarendon. 

The weather was very hot and chronic diseases prevailed among 
the men as we had to drink swamp water. Our supplies were short 
and we were placed on reduced rations. We could not find any 
chance to forage for everything had been destroyed for many miles 
in our front by the retreating enemy. There was one thing in our 
fa\or. Governor had ordered all plantations planted with corn and 
as it was just roasting ear season we completely devastated every 
field we reached — ears for ourselves and stalks for our horses. 
W bile in camp on one plantation I was detailed as company fora- 
ger, our rations l^eing reduced to one hardtack per day. I went out 
and found a blackberry patch about two miles away and all we had 
for supper were blackberries, green apples and molasses. On ar- 
riving at Clarendon and finding no supper we were not a little dis- 
appointed and soon received orders to march to Helena. Arkansas, 
f< r supplies. A distance of sixty-five miles was to be made over 
^\vamp roads, with one hard tack per man. We lost hundreds of 



20 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

men on the road, perishing for want of food, exhaustion from night 
and day marching and being forced to quench our thirst during hot 
July weather with malarial swamp water. This march was ended 
on July 14, 1862, our loss during four weeks' campaign being about 
7000 men. W'^e camped at Helena. Our regiment was placed about 
a mile and one-half above town, but our hunger was not satisfied 
even here for the supply was not sufficient, or at least it was not 
distributed. A foraging detail was accordingly sent out on the fol- 
lowing day with instructions to secure all the meat, bacon and corn 
we could and load our wagons. Sergeant Teele and myself led our 
detail about twelve miles trying to get ahead. Finally we came to 
a large plantation with probably one hundred or more slaves. W^e 
commenced loading our wagons with corn from the cribs and then 
searched for the smokehouse, which we finally found, (hiring 
which time about fifty wagons were foraging upon this place. In 
the smokehouse there was probably two or three ton of bacon, be- 
sides a large quantity of ham. Before this was loaded a platoon 
which pretended to be prevost guards from General Steele came up 
and took possession of the smokehouse pretending to have oixlers 
from the General to keep it from the troops. Corporal Church and 
myself doubted this statement; There was a barrel or two of whis- 
key and one each of molasses and vinegar which they began to sell 
to the soldiers at three shillings per drink, thus violating their or- 
ders. If they were provost guards we did not know to what regi- 
ment they belonged but knew they came from Curtis' army. We 
were determined to have some of the meat one way or another. 
Corporal Church ordered the wagons drawn up to the door and in 
connection with four or five others with drawn sabres marched in- 
to the smoke house and springing upon a barrel he acted as 
spokesman, saying: "I have just arrived from Helena with orders 
to stop the sale of liquor." They doubted his statement and argued 
the case with with for fear of being arrested, during which time I 
passed about 1,500 pounds of ham from their hangings to our 
wagons. With the exception of one drunk, our detail got in all 
right and after hiding a portion of ham, molasses and honey in a 
hollow log, the forage was turned over to headquarters. 

Two or three days after this we were ordered with Hov^y's 
brigade to Old Town Landing, about twenty miles down the •-'' er. 
Here we were camped between levee and the river. With the ■ ith 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 21 

\\'isconsin and the 33rd Illinois Infantry and loth Illinois Cavalry, 
our battalion was detailed to" raid after and load cotton on a boat. 

OLD TOWN LANDING AND HOSPITAL LIFE AT HEL- 
ENA, ARKANSAS AND ST. LOUIS. 

x-Vbout twenty miles below Helena, Arkansas, we were under 
command of General Hovey, formerly Colonel of the 33rd Illinois 
Infantry. His brigade consisted of the 33rd Illinois and the nth 
Wisconsin Infantry and our company of cavalry commanded by 
\W W. Danforth. Our business it seemed mostly was to steal or 
plunder for cotton. We were worked to death at the business. 
Steamboats would land and a large detail every morning would 
start out to load them over in the state of Mississippi. Our camp 
was very unhealthy. It was between the levee and river, the levee 
twenty to thirty feet higher than our camp. Back of this was a 
large swamp full of alligators. We had to drink water that had a 
green scum one to two inches thick. Chronic diseases and fever set 
in. I w-as finally confined to my tent and ofif duty, but my Captain 
Danforth would not let the surgeon treat me, but would come to my 
tent and treat me himself, and some others whom he claimed as his 
pets. I was very sick. In a few days so many were sick that we 
moved our camp up the river. j\Iy brother, W. F. Reed, was one 
of the cooks. He took care of me. I was getting worse all the 
time. We were ordered to Helena. There our regiment had a hos- 
pital in a church which was taken for that purpose and I was placed 
in it. There were some 200 sick, eleven or twelve of my company. 
Here is a blank in, my life I cannot remember for I was very low 
and knew but little. 1 remember my Captain and Chaplain caring 
for me, feeding me chicken broth and medicine. I would rise up 
and look around the room and see them putting a comrade in a 
box and carry him out. The average death was two to three a day. 
Here we had been for tw^o or three weeks. One night my brother, 
who was in another building near by, sick, but able to walk around, 
came in and said to me that we were to go up the river. There 
were a lot of hospital boats at the landing waiting for us and he 
had a one horse dray at the door. He had some of the company 
with him. They took me up and carried me and laid me on the dray 
and told the driver to drive to the boat in a hurry. He ran ahead 
and got on the boat. While he was on looking for a place to put 



22 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

me, the gang plank was pulled in and the boat lit out. That was 
the last I saw of my brother for over 2 years. The next I saw of 
him was at this same town. He was an officer of the 6oth U. S. 
Colored infantry. There was another steamboat that was not fully 
loaded and W. F. Bacon and Jim Jonas, of my company, took me 
on this boat with them. I was very weak and was left outside by 
the railing. It rained on me all night. There were probably one 
hundred soldiers sick similar to me. Along about 8 or 9 o'clock in 
the morning some of them who could walk came to me and told me 
several were dead, having died during the night. I remember 
Jonas and Bacon got me up on my feet and led me around. Some 
of my company died that night. 

Some time during the day we met a boat coming down the river 
and it was signaled and came to us. Who appeared on the deck 
but our own Governor of Illinois. Governor Yates. I could look 
up and see him and hear what he said. When he said, "boys what 
do you want," I said, "give us coffins to bury our dead," and he did, 
and our poor comrades were sunk there under the sands of the 
great Mississippi River. This was the only time that I ever saw 
Governor Yates. He was on his way to Vicksburg to care for sick 
and wounded soldiers from his state. His boat was loaded with 
coffins and supplies for the troops. 

We arrived at St. Louis after a journey of some two days and 
nights. Our surgeon was under arrest for some cause and refused 
to care for us and our old chaplain took us in charge but could not 
get us into any hospital at St Louis. The Captain of the boat ord- 
erd us off that the decks miglit be cleared by ten o'clock that night 
and the boat to go back for more sick, so the Chaplain sat down 
and wrote me a pass and gave it to me, passing me into the city 
limits with three men for three days. My blankets were wet and 
I kicked them into the river. Jonas and Bacon could walk about 
and were quite strong, but Thomas Egan and myself could not 
walk alone nor could we stand up alone. The boys had no money. 
1 told them to take Egan and me to the nearest hotel or restaurant 
that they could find and take care of us and that I would pay all 
bills. I had about $50.00 in my pocket l)ut they did not know it. 
They took us up about three blocks and we sat down while they 
went in. The landlord came to me and I told him our condition. 
He was a Frenchman and kept a restaurant. I told him we 
wanted to stav for two or three davs until we could get to the 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 23 

Soldiers Home. He said he wovild keep us for 8oc a da3^ I paid 
for one day and we went to bed in two rooms upstairs. In the 
morning Jonas and Bacon got up and left me and Egan in our beds 
and got their breakfast and went around town. Neither of us 
could get out of bed nor could we eat anything. We had caught 
cold and both had chills. Along in the forenoon a young lady 
came into my room and asked me if I was sick. I told her my con- 
dition and that I could scarcely move myself and she went out and 
brought in more bedding and packed it around me and then took 
care of Egan a little while. She came back and gave me something 
to eat. I shall always remember her care during those two days. 
When we got out and down to the table the third day I told the 
boys we must report to the Soldiers Home that day and we started. 
I only weighed 115 pounds. One year before this in St. Louis I 
weighed 162 pounds. They took me to the Soldiers' Home. This 
home was in charge of a woman who was kind to me . She had me 
taken into a room and put in bed. After a while she came in and 
looked at me and talked with me. I was very weak and she said 
I must have help and that she would call a doctor. The doctor 
came in and examined me and wanted to know if I had money. I 
asked him what for, to pay for medicine? I gave them a bill and 
one of them came back and gave me a large bottle and told me to 
take a swallow about so often. After I had taken a few doses I fell 
asleep till morning. There was something like sixty or seventy of 
my regiment sick at this home. The rest that came up the river 
had been placed in hospitals. The next morning our boys came in 
and told me that we had orders to go to Pilot Knob Hospital and 
the train would go soon. I did not want to be left so they got me 
up and dressed me and put me in a chair near the front door where 
I was waiting for train time. The lady in charge of the home 
came along and saw me and ordered me to come and go with her. 
I did not know what she meant. She led me across the hall into a 
nice room and said, "This is my private room — you are not able to 
go — you must stay with me, lie down on the sofa or bed and l)e 
contented, I will care for you" I heard a noise in the hall and got 
to the door. Aly comrades were leaving and 1 told them not to 
leave me so they took me along. 

We arrived at Pilot Knob and went to Arcadia and took a school 
house of which we made a hospital. This had been one of our old 
camping grounds for we had left Ft. Hovey. the June before. It 



24 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



was full of living' springs of water and was a healthy place. It 
seemed more homelike to me. I drank freely of it and took less 
medicine and began to gain. The weather was getting colder. The 
hair was mostly off from my head. I used to go down to Uncle 
Rob's residence and Aunt Mary's, as we used to call them, an old 
colored couple — they remembered us being there the spring before 
while in fort. Uncle Bob called us "his boys" and could cook what 
we wanted. They would make chichen broth and anything we 
wanted we must have. We got permission from our surgeon to 
take our meals at uncle Bob's. I gained slowly, but my poor com- 
rade, Thomas Egan, got worse and died at the scool house. \Xe 
buried him at the Arcadia cemetery 

THE GREATEST RIDE OF MY LIFE— TO SAVE FOUR 
HUNDRED SOLDIERS FROM CAPTURE. 

T returned to my company and regiment for duty at Pilot 
Knob and was promoted to corporal. Here we were at it again, 
scouting and doing duty. Some time in March I was detailed by 
my captain and he went with me to town and I was made a dis- 
patch bearer under Major Lippert, who commanded the post at 
that time. The first duty I did in this line was to carry the dis- 
patch which proved to be the order for the evacuation of Barnes- 
ville Missouri, a distance of about 40 miles. The Major ordered 
mv captain to give me my choice of horses to ride and told me not 
to spare my horse. I chose Sergeant Teele's horse, a noble one, 
and he had to give him up to me and help me off. I shall always 
feel proud of this ride and my commander did too. I made it safe- 
ly in two hours but danger was before me . Marmaduke with five 
thousand men was marching to Greenville and I did not know it. 
There were also the guerrillas between Pilot Knob and Barnesville. 
When I was out about 15 miles I met face to face three of them 
mounted at a short turn in the road. Having my colts navy in my 
right hand, and they with their guns strapped over their shoulders. 
I got the drop on them so quick that they threw up their hands 
and surrendered to me. I did not stop but kept my horse in motion 
and passed through, two on one side and one on the other, with 
my revolver holding them up. I expected to meet more but did 
not. I hastened my horse and looked back at a turn in the road. 
I saw them coming for me. My horse was good and had a good 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



wind. I let him out and soon I had distanced them half a mile or 
more. In a long turn in the road I held up to a large house and 
turned my horse, and watched the road, to let him get wind. A 
woman was standing in the door, I told her to bring me some water 
quick which she did. I had to change my revolver in hand to drink. 
She trembled and was scared. As I drank I saw them enter the 
long lane and they saw me and were yelling and fired just as my 
horse sprang again and I was out of their sight for that time. 

I arrived safely at Barnesville and rode up to Major Bell's 
tent. He came out and I handed him my dispatch. He read it and 
called his bugler and ordered him to blow the assembly. The Ma- 
jor told me to dismount and stay at his tent. The order was read 
to the command. It was the evacuation of Barnesville and to de- 
stroy our army stores there and move to Pilot Knob. In less than 
two hours Marmaduke with his army was in Barnesville and we 
five miles out. We marched all night. I left them and went ahead 
towards morning. This I shall always consider the most import- 
ant ride of my life, for if I had failed to reach Barnesville these four 
hundred troops would have been taken and these stores would have 
fallen into their hands 

The next morning I was in a detail to go north on the Iron 
Mountain Railroad. Marmaduke had crossed there that night. 
Six miles north we struck his rear guard. At this point our little 
command mounted and charged them before they could form a 
line. I well remember the command given to them by their com- 
mander when he saw us charging down on them. It was in these 
words, "right face, right smart, git," and they did "git" before we 
could reach them. We turned back and went to Pilot Knob. Our 
troops had gone, some on the Fredricktown road and some towards 
Cape Girardeau. We that were out went on to overtake our com- 
mand. I did not reach my company until late in the afternoon. I 
was taken sick and was nearly used up. I had been out nearly two 
days and nights without sleep and constantly in the saddle and had 
made probably a one hundred mile ride. 

THE TWO BIRDS IN A CAGE ROLLING DOWN THE 

MOUNTAIN. 

I came to the right of the company to take my place and Cap- 
tain May said, "Charley, have you gotten back." He looked at me 
and said to one of the boys, "you fall out with Field and put him 



2 6 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



in an ambulance and put his horse in its place." My captain knew 
what I had done. I got into the ambulance which had three seats 
in it. The driver was on the front seat and 1 took the middle seat. 
He turned around and said to me, "look out for that man on the 
back seat, he was in the fight this morning and was hurt and 1 
think he is crazy. Dont let him get out." 1 noticed he had an artil- 
lery uniform on and was either French or German. I could not 
talk with him. It was nearly dark. 1 had had a chill that after- 
noon and it was on when the captain sent me back. The fever had 
set in and I did not care for driver or crazy man so I lopped down 
on the seat and soon fell asleep, but was awakened by the reeling' 
of my comrade, the crazy man on the back seat. The ambulance 
had broken loose froiu the horses and the driver was out with 
them and the crazy man and I were rolling down the mountain and 
him a yelling. The curtains were all tied down. I could think of 
nothing" but what the driver had told me just before I went to slee]) 
so I reached for the crazy loon and caught him by the coat tail and 
hung on, we still going down the hill like two birds in a cage, with 
awful yells from the Frenchman. I could not pacify him. I pre- 
sume he was bruised some, I know I was. The ambulance finally 
struck in a creek, top down and wheels uj), in about four feet of 
water and mud, I still clinging to my man who had torn through 
the curtains and was soaked with mud and water and he still yel- 
ling drew me into a thicket of underbrush. All of a sudden I found 
we were surrounded by a group of mounted men. 

Halt ; Halt ; 1 saw they were about to capture me so I let go of 
mv man. 1 have never seen him since nor heard from him. He 
flew through the brush — the mounted men ditl not get him. These 
mounted men were at the rear of our army. You may imagine 
how 1 felt. I walked back. The mounted men and surgeon sat 
u]K>n their horses and we ordered some colored men to go into the 
creek and get the ambulance. I saw camp fires across on the other 
side and 1 waded across to them. ( )ur troops were lying around 
them asleep. This was about lo or ii o'clock. 1 did not know where 
to find mv company or regiment. 1 got to one pile of rails burning 
and was trying to get dry : the soldiers were snoring all around lue. 
Soon I heard two shots fired by artillery. They could not have 
been more than sixty or eighty rods from me. The men all sprang 
to their feet and bugles were sounded. 1 could distinguish our 
cam]) bugle and grabbing my clothes ran for it. Some one half mile 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



from where 1 was my company was in line. A night attack was 
what was supposed. 1 ran for my horse — one of my platoon had 
him in line. I grabbed the rein. He did not know me and would 
not give him up until I put my clothing" on. Before I got them on 
however, we were told to lie down. It was only the ist Iowa caval- 
ry on picket and they were close to the enemy's lines. They had 
taken two of our howitzer — the enemy having fired on picket — and 
o])ened them right in the enemy's camp. This set Marmaduke re- 
treating in the night supposing that he was attacked, while we laid 
down until morning. 

CAVALRY CHARGE AT BLOOMFIELD MISSOURI. 

The next morning we moved on to Jackson. Marmaduke had 
l^assed through and we followed. He attacked Cape Girardeau. 
(General McXeil moved his forces up and drove them back to Chalk 
lUuiT road leading to Bloomfield. Here we united with McNeil. 
We were under command of General Vandever. The two forces 
under V^andever and McNeil pursued Marmaduke. Ptefore we 
reached Bloomfield he made a stand, or pretended to. Colonel 
(ilover with a battalion of Missouri Cavalry, and Major Lippert 
with our battalion, charged his rear and routed them. We drove 
them to Bloomfield. There was a number lost in this charge in 
killed and wounded. I think our dash was some three miles. I 
had another chill that day. My captain wanted me to take the am- 
bulance but I told him I would not — I preferred to die in the saddle 
before he would get me into another ambulance and I did stick to 
my saddle, in this charge, and came out all (). K. We still pursued 
the enemy and drove them across the St. Francis River at Chalk 
lUuiT, where we had a big artillery fight which lasted some time. 
( )ur regiment was posted near the foot of a little hill that was cov- 
ered with our artillery. AYe were in the swamp or bayou. Our 
horses were over their knees in water. The shells were screaming 
over us and twigs and tree limbs falling. We were placed as sup- 
])ort, and to keep from sight and exposure we led into the water for 
safety. After the battle we returned to Pilot Knob. \A'e had been 
gone ten days and started on three days' rations. I had suf¥ered 
from hunger, chills and fever. My medicine was fight. We had 
driven Marmaduke from the state of Missouri. 



L'S THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

BATTLE OF POPLAR BLUFF, MISSOURI. 

We went into camp and stayed a few days and were then or- 
dered to Brownsville, under command of Lieut. Col. Hartman. 
Here we camped a while and did picket duty, and made a raid 
down on Eleven Point River on the Arkansas line and had about 
80 to 100 men in this raid. When out about three days some 80 to 
100 miles from camp at Poplar Bluff, we were trapped by some of 
Marmaduke's Cavalry. They were concealed on a mountain of 
high rocks and the road which we were on led us nearly around this 
mountain. They could see us and had concealed a large force in 
this mountain. We took a lane that led us close up to the rocks on 
one side and a high rail fence on the other and when our command 
got into this lane they opened fire on us straight down from the 
rocks. This was a tight place and we could do nothing. My horse 
was shot. Buckshot had passed through my blankets which were 
fastened to my saddle. We were ordered to run and get away from 
the fire. The road led us around the mountain where there was a 
slope and we were on level ground. There we were running two 
by two. There were some 400 or more mounted cavalry on this 
slope. They rushed down- with a charge and struck us a broadside. 
I was thrown in among the enemy and they shot my horse again 
but I managed to gain my place. This was a hard brush for us. 
Several horsese were killed and several men were taken prisoners. 
Lieutenant Hilliard was wounded here. He was afterwards 
Colonel of an Illinois Cavalry Regiment and was Adjutant General 
of the State of Illinois after the war. He rode with me that night 
on the retreat. My horse being badly wounded I was placed 
among the wounded. I shall always remember Lieutenant Hilliard 
and how he suffered that night with a musket ball in his arm. We 
made a retreat of some fifty miles that night. The next night we 
camped about two miles out from our pickets at Brownsvdle and 
laid till morning to see if the enemy had followed us. In the morn- 
ing I had to abandon my horse. He had bled badly and was stif- 
fened from the haid ride. My poor horse; I had thought so much 
of him, and he was so well trained. His name was Fidicay. He 
was given to me by an old regular, who enlisted in our company 
and who had ridden him and trained him. The horse would fight 
on a field of battle with his heels but I had to leave him. We went 
into camp twenty horses short, a number of men wounded and 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 29 



some taken prisoners. This was not encouraging for us. We re- 
mained here but a short time. 

The regiment was ordered to Pilot Knob and camped near 
Shepherd Mountain and was consolidated — what was left of us into 
three companies. Having had eight companies, we were so re- 
duced that we only had three companies. This consolidation 
caused the commissioned and non-commissioned officers to be 
thrown out, except enough to officer three companies. I, being a 
Corporal, expected to be thrown out, but Major Lippert was re- 
tained to command the three companies and he chose his own com- 
missioned officers. My captain was retained captain. G. Allen 
May and he held me by choice as one of the corporals. We had a 
good set of men and officers who had seen action in the service, 
and our leader, ^lajor Lippert, was an officer who was competent 
to command an army 

BATTLE OF BRUSHY OR HORSE SHOE BEND. 
June 1863. 

After our consolidation our three companies were sent to Pat- 
terson, down in the Black River country to fight the guerrillas. 
We had a hard time of it. We could not get close enough to them 
to have an engagement so we divided our force, one company under 
Captain Erskine, Company B, left camp, and our company under 
Captain G. A. May, left one day later and company A, under Cap- 
tain Behlendorf remained to hold the camp. 

Major Tim Reeves had command of the guerrillas and kept 
away from us. The bands were commanded by Reeves, Carter, 
Johnson and Oauntrell. We were to consolidate our two compan- 
ies the second night out and attack Reeves in camp. Our company 
under Captain May (Company C) — we had about twenty more 
scouts with us — and our Major Lippert being with us, were to meet 
Captain Erskine's company and unite our forces next day or night. 
The first night out we camped about 25 miles from Patterson, so 
you can see that our forces were a long ways apart. There were 
no other troops within fifty miles of us. That night we camped in 
a little valley on Horse Shoe Bend Creek, with high hills on three 
sides of us. X^ar the creek, ofl^ the road, in a little clearing there 
was a log stable. The scouts, about 20 in number, had tied their 
horses around the stable and near it. Our company had about 60 



30 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

men. We had eaten supper and were about to lie down for the 
night when Sergeant INIartin Luther, who had charge of the pickets, 
sent in word that men were crossing the road between the pickets 
on the hill. Our camp had been seen by the vedettes. The Major 
went around quietly and ordered us to saddle our horses and to 
fall in line and lay on arms and put out fires. This was about lo 
o'clock. He then took the Missouri scouts and advanced a skirm- 
ish line to our front. I remember he came to captain May and had 
a talk with him saying, "I believe we are surrounded." This was 
an anxious night. The katydids were singing and we were anxious 
to know the result. About three o'clock the Major ordered us to 
be ready. Our cook had started a little fire (Bob was his name.) 
He had a pack horse with camp kettle and coffee and we had start- 
ed to get our coffee. When the music commenced, the hills all 
around us were a blaze of fire. The Major got his scouts along a 
rail fence at the foot of the hill and Captain May had us mount. 
We formed our company in the creek between the banks mounted. 
It soon began to get light. I was right guide of the company. I 
could see the dead horses of the scouts lying around the stables. 
The scouts were fighting and the enemy were climbing over the 
fence. We were getting in a few shots with carbines. Our heads 
being above the bank. Soon I saw Major Lippert hobble from the 
fence and firing his revolver and clearing himself, came to the right 
of our company, and told Captain May to take command and get 
us out, for 'T am shot" he said. Captain May ordered us to draw 
sabres fours right and the order to charge was blown by our bug- 
ler. They were getting pretty thick around us. We made a dash 
by fours and cut our way through. I was right guide which placed 
me in the first four. The Sergeant's horse was shot and the bugler 
had his bugle shot out of his hands and was wounded in the lips 
and mouth. My horse and clothing were covered with blood but 
I was not hurt. We went over the rail fence, four deep, flying right 
through the thickest of them, and formed a line. The scouts and 
men who lost their horses followed on foot and ran in our wake. 
We formed on level ground but only had about 40 men mounted. 
We held this ground for one hour and sent our wounded and dis- 
mounted men on toward Patterson. The enemy dared not come 
near enough to give us battle. Our Captain had a good position 
and he said he would charge them if they would come. We had 
lost some 20 horses or more. Major Lippert had been shot three 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 31 

times and was carried out on a horse. Six men were wounded. 
We arrived at Patterson that night, pressing in some teams to haul 
our wounded. The whole of these bands had united and made the 
attack on us with only 80 men under Major Lippert. The force 
under Reeves, Carter, Johnson and Quantrell was said to contain 
480 men. A few days afterwards, we got the newspapers of the 
fight of Brushy Creek or Horse Shoe Bend. Reeve's own report 
was that he had killed Lippert and used up his command, and had 
only lost 14 men himself. 

We stayed at Patterson for a while and had a hospital at a 
farm house about two miles out where Major Lippert and others 
were kept. Some two or three weeks later we went to Pilot Knob. 
We were there a short time when Major Lippert came to us again 
and took command. We moved out to Bloomfield, Missouri. We 
commenced to build a large fort at this place on a little hill. We 
cut the logs in the timber and hauled them in. I was engaged in 
this work — cutting down trees and loading teams. We had not 
completed our fort, but we had named it however. It was called 
fort Lippert after our Major. 

One afternoon Sergeant Major Keyes Danforth camiC and had 
three men and myself report to Major Lippert's tent after dark 
that night. The Major told me I was to ride with him all night. 
We took the Chalk Bluff road and went on a lope most of the 
night. Along toward morning we halted and went into the woods. 
The Major said "Corporal Field, leave your horse and come with 
me — I want to have a talk with you." I left my horse and we had 
a talk. I then knew what our ride was for, but had not previously. 
He said that we would leave our horses with the other three sol- 
diers that Kitchen's regiment of confederates were camped on 
Chalk Bluff near where we had the fight last spring and I was 
here in it. I told him I was. He said he is not far off and I want 
to get sight of the camp and count his men at roll call this morning, 
so we left and made through the timber. W^e must have travelled 
about two miles in the dark when we came to the water. We 
crept along and watched the opposite side. I saw tents on the 
bluff and I showed them to him. It was quite dark yet so we got 
a nice place and waited until daylight. The drummers came out 
and were between us and the tents and beat the morning reveille. 
W^e were in the willows just opposite. The distance could not have 
been more than forty rods. "Now you count the men in each com- 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



pany, beginning at the right" said Major Lippert. I did and he 
took notes in his book. "Now said he. "we nnist get back and not 
be, seen." We did get back and lively too and made Bloomfield that 
day in safety. W^e had ridden nearly lOO miles when Lippert 
wanted to know the numl)er of men Colonel Kitchen had. We had 
gotten the number from roll call. Soon after this (a few days) we 
started south. Major General Steele had moved from Pilot Knob 
and was on his way for Little Rock, Arkansas. 

We were put some twenty miles in the rear of General David- 
son's division of Cavalry. This left all the guerrilla bands that 
followed in the rear of his army to come in contact with us, being 
some twenty miles in the rear of all of our forces. We camped the 
second night out not far from the St. Francis River. I was cor- 
poral of camp guard that night. We had about eight or ten teams 
and our three companies all told, numbered about 200 men. This 
was a terrible night — thunder, wind and rain — the men were 
drowned out of their dog tents, llie horses tore around all night. 
The men piled under the wagons to keep out of the storm. 

I was very busy keeping the picket posts down that our horses 
were tied to and the whole guard was kept up all night at work. 
Tn the morning at roll call we had lost some fourteen horses and 
a span of mules. They could not be found. My captain made 
every man tell where his horse was tied and none were taken from 
the picket line that I had charge of, so I was clear. But the span 
of mules was tied to the wagon tongue and 1 was under the wagon 
part of the night. I told the Captain that I had run against several 
men that night and so did the guards, and some were asleep almost 
as they walked or stood up to keep out of the water that had fallen, 
but to our surprise the halters were all cut and the horses stolen. 
The guerillas had been among us and stolen them during the storm. 
You could not see ten feet from you that night. There was a de- 
tail made and the sergeant was ordered to take command of the de- 
tail of fourteen men and 1 was second in command. 

Major Lippert ordered us to scour the country and make up 
the loss of horses and o\'ertake the command next night and they 
would move on. We rode clear around our camping grounds. 1 
found a road that led east. 1 rode on it until 1 found fresh tracks 
where four horses had been led four abreast. 1 rode back and tokl 
Keyes Danforth. the Sergeant .Major, and we took this road while 
the main command moved south. We followed this trail some four 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 33 

or five miles. We met a couple of men mounted on mules. I told 
the Sergeant we must have those mules. I was anxious that the 
loss be made good for I did not know but that the Captain or Ma- 
jor blamed me for neglect of duty and might have me reduced in 
rank so I halted the men and looked them over. The Sergeant Major 
did not say anything, so I says to him "we want those mules, they 
are a good span." He ordered them to dismount. I will always 
remember what he said. "I suppose we will have to get down, but 
we hate to." We took the mules and he let the men go. I told the 
Sergeant that I believed that they were Kitchen's teams and that 
Kitchen's regiment was not ten miles from us for they were 
camped not far from here. He then rode on and had a talk with 
them. They claimed to be going out to thresh. There was not a 
stalk of grain to be found but he said we must not take any pris- 
oners to be burdened with so we moved on. The sun came out hot. 
\Ye stopped in front of a house and let the boys get off and fill their 
canteens at a well. I looked across a pasture about forty rods away 
and saw two mounted men in the edge of the tim- 
ber looking at me. I told the boys next to 
me to take them in — they took after them but they got away. I 
alone was mounted — the rest were all over the fence filling their 
canteens. I was in the road and about thirty rods ahead of me I 
saw a horse hitched to a post. I had been keeping watch of him. 
I saw a man come up to him and look up the road. He saw me and 
mounted quickly and started the other way and run. He was in 
gray uniform. I drew my revolver and took after him alone. I 
kept after him until I was within ten rods of him. He looked back 
and I ordered him to halt or I would shoot him. He saw he was 
a "goner" so he threw up both hands and his horse ran into the 
rail fence. I held his hands up and disarmed him and put him in 
the road. I looked around and saw a little way off two or three 
men down the road who were mounted. He said to me "Look 
there, if I had you down there I would have you." "Who are they" 
I said. "Its our picket post, and I am one of them." "What drums 
do I hear beating," I asked, and was getting him back fast as I 
could make him run his horse. "It is Kitchen's regiment down in 
the flat about a mile from here." he said. I hustled him for he had 
probably led me a mile in the chase and had nearly succeeded in 
towing me into a trap, but my horse was too fleet for him. I got 
him back and turned him over to the Sergeant Major and we 



^1 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

turned our command back and rode briskly. This trail showed that 
some of Colonel's Kitchen's men had gotten our horses and mules 
and if I had not captured this man we would have ridden down to 
their pickets and possibly into their camp and been captured. 

\A^e went back and captured several horses on our road and 
overtook our command about nine o'clock that night. We followed 
on for several days and our men were all remounted. One night 
we camped a little while before sun down. Our pickets were posted 
out on the different roads leading to our camp. We put up our 
tents and had not been camped long when a picket brought a person 
in to Major Lippert. I saw him come in. I thought I had seen 
him before so I put a haversack and canteen on — I had my revolver 
and belt on — and thought I would forage a little and get some milk 
or something else. I started out and happened to pass the Major's 
tent. I saw the prisoner and Major Lippert sitting on camp stools 
in his tent talking confidentially. The prisoner looked up to me 
and said "Corporal where are you going?" I hesitated to tell him 
but he laughed and then I recognized him as the man I had had 
charge of before as prisoner in our camp. I told him I was going 
out of camp and was going to milk a cow if I could find one, as 1 
had often done before. He said I should go away and come back 
in a few minutes for he wanted me. I went away and they closed 
the tent door. I saw it open a few minutes later. I returned and 
he asked me in and I went. The Major said to me "go out with 
him and it will be all right, and you look after him and go where 
he wants to." After we got into the woods (he knew me as the cor- 
poral who had guarded him in previous visits to our camp) he said 
"Now, Corpora], take off your belt and revolver and you shall have 
a good supper tonight." We will have to hurry a little so as to get 
back to camp. We went to a house about one and one half miles 
from camp. We took to the timber all the time. I was afraid we 
would get lost, l)ut he said: "No, I am well acquainted here." We 
entered the house where there were several ladies and three or 
four men and a table set for ten or twelve and the folks were about 
to eat supper. All seemed to know him and shook hands. He said 
he would eat supper all right l)Ut his prisoner must eat too, so 1 
was ordered to take a place beside him at the table. \ on may im- 
agine how 1 felt. I know 1 acted my part well. I heard the talk 
about the Yankees and the i)raise of their troops and could not say 
a word, nor did 1 dare to, l)ut my ap])etite did not fail me. I learned 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 35 

here that Jeff Thompson's confederate forces were only two miles 
from us and some of the men who were eating were men of his and 
probably some of his officers also out of camp. As soon as we were 
through my companion excused himself and said that he must get 
back to camp with his prisoner, as it was getting late. We started 
out and went up the road a little and then entered the woods and 
stopped. He unbuckled my belt and handed it to me and said, 
''Corporal, now you protect me, — I am your ])risoner and we must 
hurry and get in. You will find the tents all struck and Lippert's 
men ready to move for Jeff Thompson's command was to surround 
your camp tonight and capture Lippert's full force. That was what 
I came in to let you know." I then took the lead and he followed 
me. We soon saw our camp fires, and to mv 
surprise, all of our force were mounted and wagons 
packed and were waiting. I saw the Major sitting on 
his horse and went to him. I saw there the prisoner's horse and 
mine. The prisoner talked a little with the Major. The !\Iajor 
then said to me "Corporal, take your prisoner out of sight in the 
woods and let him go and come right back." I did so and then the 
bugle sounded and we marched away all right. The next morning 
we were with our army — Davidson's Cavalry. We had marched 
with Davidson's division but a few days when one morning as we 
were about to start out the Sergeant Major came to me and told 
me to report at Major Lippert's tent. I did so and whom did I see 
there but this same spy and the Major talking. I then realized that 
something was up. The Major said we were to take the advance 
that day, and he said to me: "You take the advance alone and keep 
from a quarter to a half mile ahead of the advance guards and keep 
a close w'atch and let me know if you get sight of anything. Take 
this man with you — he will ride with you today and if he wants 
to leave let him go. "We started out and were the extreme advance 
of everything that day. I had a good opportunity to learn some- 
thing from this man. He told me that Jeff Thompson was camped 
on such a road and we would take a road to avoid him and get 
around him. He had come to give us this information and said 
that he would leave me when he thought our forces safe. I said to 
him "now, you belong to his command, and when you leave me and 
go to enter his command, suppose the pickets place you under ar- 
rest or think 3^ou are a spy, what can you do to get clear." "Cor- 
poral." he said, there are various ways for me to get away.'" He 



36 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

put his hand into his pocket and drew out all the gold coin it would 
hold. "That will clear me," he said. "I am loaded down with it." 
He told nie to what regiment he belonged and several things that 
I will not mention here. I saw him later on and we were piloted 
safely by. That afternoon he bid me good bye and rode into the 
timber out of sight. He said that everything was all right. We 
were not molested in any way on that day — he had made it safe 
for us. 

GENERAL JOHN W. DAVIDSON'S CAVALRY DIVISION. 

We continued with this division until we reached Clarendon on 
White River, Arkansas. We were then sent (our three companies 
of Cavalry) to escort a supply train of some four hundred wagons 
to Helena, some sixty miles, to get supplies for the army. On this 
march with the train we were divided and scattered along the train 
by platoons. I was assigned the command of a platoon not far 
from the rear of the train. Captain May commanded the rear 
guard of the train. There were also some infantry guards scattered 
along who rode in wagons. I had received strict orders from my 
Captain that morning not to let any of the men in my platoon 
straggle or break ranks, for the officers were afraid of an attack up- 
on the train. It was a warm day — the last of August 1863. Along 
in the afternoon I had been annoyed by the boys wanting to get 
canteens filled and one man by the name of Smith (known better 
to the command by the name of Riley) was a great hand to strag- 
gle, but I had kept watch of him that day. Our command had to 
halt on account of a wagon breaking down just' a little ahead of 
us. There was a nice house a little way off at the right of the road 
so I told Smith to gather up the canteens and I would go with him 
and fill them at the house while the command was waiting. We 
rode up in front of this house, dismounted at the front gate and 
went up the walk in front of the house. A young lady came out 
of the front door as we came up to the stoop. She was dressed in 
white with gold wristlets and gold chain and she was fine looking. 
I asked her where the well was as we wanted to fill our canteens. 
She told me it was right around the corner of the house so we 
passed around and filled our canteens and returned the same way 
we went. As we came back there were two ladies and they had set 
out a couple of chairs. They spoke to me and one of them said, 
"won't you take chairs and have a chat with us?"I was surprised 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 37 

at this invitation and hesitated but sat down on the step and told 
them to take chairs. You may imagine my thoughts. This was 
an indication of danger — I had had such experience before. They 
took out their snuff boxes and were dipping snuff and trying to be 
sociable with us. I was looking at- the train and my command only 
a few rods away and was watching them so as to start for my horse 
as soon as the train moved. I took from my pocket a plug of nav}* 
tobacco and took a chew. I was surprised when one of the girls 
came to me and said "won't you cut me off a piece of your tobacco" 
I gave each a piece. These people were called the first class of the 
south and were very wealthy. I then saw the train move and my 
command follow in their place. I sprang to my horse and mounted 
and as we moved away J told comrade Smith that I was afraid of 
an attack or that something would happen for those women were 
trying to deceive us, and that he should ride fast and keep up with 
me. His horse was a little lame and could not follow me. There 
was a vacancy of half a mile to close up and the men had ridden 
fast to close it up. I drew my revolver and rode fast when I came 
to this vacancy and it was in heavy timber. Smith straggled be- 
hind — his horse was lame. I left him and overtook my command. 
I had looked behind me and saw him coming. All of a sudden I 
missed him. He did not come up and I had to make a report of 
him that night. I did not see Smith again for three months. In 
exchange of prisoners he came back. He came to me and told me 
that I was not out of sight when two men stepped from behind 
trees, grabbed his horse, drew revolvers and took him into the 
timber. They had some two hundred men lying on the ground 
within four rods of the road and their horses farther back in a 
ravine. H^e said "I asked them after they had taken me back and 
made me lie down on the ground, why they did not take the Ser- 
geant who was ahead of me." They said they saw him but would 
have been shot before they could get him — that he had his revolver 
in hand and would shoot and would bring on an engagement. 

We remained at Helena about two days, when our command, 
under Major Lippert was ordered back to Clarendon on \A'hite 
River and were to escort a General with us. I have forgotten the 
General's name — he was inspector general of all the armies at that 
time and was to inspect Davidson's division of the cavalry. 

We left Helena in the morning, the General with us. There 
were three companies and we had with us one ambulance. About 



38 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

ten o'clock that day we overtook a few straggling Cavalrymen and 
a Lieutenant with them. Their horses were white with perspira- 
tion. They halted and told us that they had a fight some miles 
back and had lost all their men — some fifteen — and had made their 
escape. They passed on toward Helena and we prepared for an at- 
tack and moved on. After a while we found some dead horses and 
some wounded men. We threw out a skirmish line and kept up a 
march. ' About sun down we struck a muddy bayou and had to 
cross on an old flat boat. We dismounted, unsaddled our horses 
and put our saddles on the boat. The stream was not ten rods 
across. Some twenty men got on the boat and were pulling it 
across and we were getting our horses ready to swim them across, 
when on the opposite bank the enemy opened fire from the brush. 
It was lively but our men reached the bank formed a line and drove 
them back. We then went into camp for the night. There vv^as a 
cotton gin here and it was set on fire. The Major and the General 
had a tent but we soldiers had none. Along about midnight m}' 
Captain awoke me and told me to go to the ^Major's tent and be 
careful not to awaken any of the boys. I went to the Major's tent 
and found him up. The General and a darky, a stranger were talk- 
ing. The Major told me to go and l)ring my horse. I went and 
when I came back I found Sergeant Graves and Paul and Jonas 
and my captain there. The Major and General mounted and the 
darky, the Captain told us not to awaken any one. We moved out 
cautiously to the timber and found that there were eight of us in 
all. The ]\lajor then told us what he wanted. It was to capture 
the officer in conunand of the force that had made the attack upon 
us, and that the officer was in a house close by. It was a very 
dark night and we moved very slowly. The darky was pilot. We 
came to a halt. The Major came to Graves, Paid. Jonas and I and 
told us to dismount. We could see the white house. He said to us, 
"Now you four surround the house and don't let a man escape. 
Capture the officer he is in there." W^e got over a rail fence. It 
was so dark we found ourselves in a mule corral with a fence about 
eight feet high. ^Ve got out into the front yard behind some ever- 
greens and made up our minds that if we were to separate we would 
be in danger of shooting one another. So Jonas 
crept up on the step on one side of the 

front door and laid down under the windows. I took the 
other side and (Graves was to come up and rap at the door. If they 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 39 



opened fire Jonas and I would have a cross fire through the win- 
dow. Sergeant Graves rapped and a woman came to the door and 
said "wait till I light a lamp." "Open or I will break the door" was 
Graves' reply. She made a light and I saw her come across the 
parlor and open the door, and we rushed in. It was a nice parlor 
finely furnished and there were several doors leading to other 
rooms.. I made straight across to a door opposite, which was open. 
I found the back window open and a rifle and carbine and a white 
hat lay on the bed. I grabbed the guns and made back. I knew 
well that they had made their escape by the back way. Jonas had 
picked up two or three colts navies. On the carpet there were 
some pillows. I kicked them over and found an officer's coat and 
grabbed it, when the woman made for me and said "don't take that 
coat; it is my son-in-law's, I wove the cloth and made it for him." 
I handed it to Jonas and told him to hold the things. I then made 
for another rdom — the door was nearly closed. The woman saw 
that I was going into the room. "Don't go in there," she said, "there 
is no one in there but my daughters." I did not stop but opened 
the door and entered the room with my revolver in hand. I found 
a bed on each side as I entered, but she tried to keep the light out. 
Paul was a little flighty or scared and was close behind the woman 
and had a revolver in each hand, and he was afraid of being fired 
upon by the parties who had made their escape. I asked him to 
bring the light to me. I sat down on the edge of one of the beds 
with my revolver in hand. I heard a laugh in the bed. I tried to 
get Paul to get the light or the woman near so I could see. I 
threw the clothes ofl^. Two ladies had jumped on the bed and 
pulled a quilt over them. The three women were dressed in silk 
dresses and I saw plainly that none of them had been to bed that 
night. I told them I would capture him and they said I would not 
get him and laughed at me. I told them I would get him before 
he was married. I went back. Jonas was fumbling around and 
I looked on the bureau and saw- a gold watch. I picked it up 
when the woman called, "don't take my watch". I looked around 
and whom did I see but the General who was with us, standing in 
the room. He said "don't take the woman's jewelry. We must 
hurry up, boys." We all started. I had a captain's coat, one carbine 
and one ritle, and the picture of the captain and his intended, 
which I had found on the carpet. I had more than I could mount 
my horse with in the dark. I broke the stock of the rifle and threw 



40 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

it down. I lost the picture but mounted with carbine and coat. 
We arrived safe in camp iand went to sleep until morning. 

The next morning when the advance guard was formed Cor- 
poral Stone of my company was given charge of them. I went to 
him and found that we were to pass over the same road. I told him 
to look for the gun and pictures. He did so and had them that 
night when we reached Clarendon on \\ hite River where our army 
under General Davidson was located. A few days after they left 
Clarendon for supplies and was to pass over this same road again, 
so we posted the ofificers in charge and when they returned some 
days after they met a darky and he told the officer in charge of 
escort if they wanted to see a wedding to hurry up and get to a 
certain house that was a mile or two ahead. They remembered 
the circumstances and took a few of their escort and went ahead 
and surrounded the house and captured the captain and brought him 
in with them. The next day we heard of his capture. 

Corporal Stone and myself went down to the dead line where 
there were a lot of prisoners who were under guard. We took out his 
and his wife's pictures and called him up. I showed them to him 
and told him that I was the man that got his coat and pictures and 
was in his mother-in-law's house on that night. He would not 
talk to me but acted as if he would like to get hold of me. He was 
a fine looking fellow. It was a mean trick but such is war. 

IN A GUN BOAT ON WHITE RIVER. 

A few days after this, a mosquito fleet of gun boats was lying 
in the river. One came to the shore which had a large coal barge 
attached to her side. Our battalion was ordered to put our horses 
in the coal barge. We then went on board the gunboat. We filled 
it full and were piled all around the guns. She pulled down the 
river with the barge by her side, for about two miles, when the 
enemy opened fire on us from timber. The river was very narrow. 
Our gunboat opened fire and we had a lively skirmish. We ran 
into shore and tied our coal barge to a tree and formed a line un- 
der the bank. The gunboat fell back about one length behind and 
opened again and cut the timber with her shot. We unloaded 
our horses under fire. I was on the bank to line them in their 
places as they came up, with a few others. The gunboat still fir- 
ing, had driven them back into the timbers. It soon became dark 
rnd firing ceased, and we laid on our arms. 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 41 

A DESPERATE CHARGE. 

About two o'clock the Major got us up and we mounted. He 
ordered us to keep still and not to speak loud. Company "A" in 
advance and Company "B" were to charge with carbines and re- 
volvers by fours, and our Company ("C") was to follow in a saber 
charge. We moved cautiously out on a by road about a mile, when 
a shot was fired hitting the advance Sergeant of Company "A," 
shooting him through the shoulder. The Major then ordered a 
charge and we went in less than two minutes. We were on the 
ground right among them as we came to a halt. Companies A and 
B were firing, and the enemy on each side, made lively fireworks. 
As we came to a stand I could see the enemy's commander about 
four rods to my left trying to line his men. Sergeant Brown of my 
company was in a set of fours behind me. A man near hallooed, 
"Sergeant Brown, where are you?" "Here I am," said Brown. He 
came up to me and I saw he had his musket with bayonet on. 
Brown said to him, "let me take your gun." He handed it to Brown 
and we told him to surrender. He said, "I thought it was our com- 
pany falling into line." He was asleep on the ground and some or 
our company, A or B, had run over him and he was lost and bruised. 
The enemy ceased firing and scattered — it was very dark. Some of 
us dismounted and as it grew light we gathered up some of the 
wounded and several stands of arms. We then advanced a little to 
the edge of the timber at the edge of Grand Prairie, Arkansas. As 
it grew light we moved out. Captain Behlendorf, who commanded 
Company A, thought he saw the enemy in line on the prairie. It 
was foggy and scarcely light so he threw his company into line and 
made a charge, firing with carbines and revolvers. We watched the 
charge but no fire came from the enemy. Instead of it being the , 
enemy it was some willows in a slough and some of the men had 
gotten their horses down. We looked around after daylight and 
the enemy was scattered here and there in groups on each side of 
us, only two or three in a place. We would send out from our line 
our best mounts and surround and capture them. We moved out 
from the forks of the road which came from Little Rock and led to 
a landing opposite Clarendon on White River where our army was 
located. Having several prisoners, we moved down this road. 
There was a confederate standing down the road looking up at us. 
Our company was in advance and we told the Major that we 



42 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

wanted to take him. He said, "Let him be and keep places." We 
rode along quietly and as the Major in advance came opposite him 
he presented arms to him. The Major halted and asked him where 
the Post was. "Down yonder in the church," he said. The Major 
then told him to surrender and give up his gun. Our ccjmpany then 
charged and surrounded the church, taking twenty or more prison- 
ers without firing a shot. Some were asleep and had to be awak- 
ened. A\'e then moved on down towards the landing. \\'e had 
captured in this raid and charge some fifty prisoners and as many 
stands of arms. This was a successful move on Lippert's part. We 
met some of the troops before we reached the landing. Our army 
under General Davidson had laid a pontoon bridge across the river 
during the night. \\'e moved out to Grand Prairie that day. It was 
a grand sight that day and the next, to see the divisions in three 
lines moving on Grand Prairie. This division consisted of the ist, 
2nd and 3rd Missouri Cavalry and several batteries of artillery of 
3kIissouri troops, the loth Illinois Cavalry, the 13th Illinois Cavalry, 
the command to which I belonged, and the 1st 
Iowa Cavalry, the 5th Kansas Cavalry and part of 
a regiment of Michigan Cavalry, also part of the 32nd Iowa 
Infantry. We moved in three columns on a prairie only two or 
three miles in width and a large train of five hundred wagons. Wc 
could look around and see the whole army with the naked eye. 
W^e suffered for want of water and our horses did also. On this 
])rairie the ponds and sloughs and bayous had a little water in 
them, but in a few moments were dry or a mass of mud. The 
weather was very warm. It was the ist of September, 1863. 

BATTLE OF GRAND PRAIRIE, ARKANSAS. 

We had cpiite an engagement on this prairie, which lasted for 
several hours. General Burbrige commanded the division of Price's 
army with which we had this engagement. It was mostly an artil- 
lery fight. Our regimental colors were set on fire by a shell from 
the enem\' and were burned badly. I was regimental marker in the 
field in this engagement. Our movements were mostly oblique 
mo\-ements to deceive the enemy and our troojis went from the 
prairie into the timber and got in the rear of General wSabine and 
his staff and they were taken prisoners by our skirmish line which 
had gotten beyond them.' His army of from 5.000 to 6,000 men 
were forced to retreat. We camped at Browns\ille that night. The 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 43 

next day was the battle of Bayou Metre. In the forenoon our bat- 
talion and a battalion of another regiment charged and took the 
rifle pits on the bluff. There were quite a number killed and 
wounded but we rode our horses nearly into the pits before the fir- 
ing ceased and they ran out. In the afternoon our battalion sup- 
ported a battery that was engaged on a little hill on the flat. We 
were dismounted and lay on the ground. The enemy's battery had 
pretty good range on us and we had to get on our feet and dodge 
cannon balls. The enemy's shot would strike on the side of the hill 
and glance up and strike in front of us. We could see them and 
would run to right or left and they would roll down to a rail fence 
some ten rods in the rear and knock the rails out. It was very 
lively some of the time. At dark we left the field. The enemy had 
seized the bridge and set fire to it. We fell back to the bluff' and 
went into camp. This battery had averaged 200 rounds on that 
day's engagement. We were very tired and about ten o'clock made 
a little fire. Our darky cook, Bob, was with us and had his pack 
horse and camp kettle to make coff'ee. He took his kettle and went 
down to the bayou but came back without any water. The kettle 
had a bullet hole in it. He said: "Oh, Massa, them rebs are just 
across there and when I go to dip, the}^ fire and hit my kettle." He 
was afraid and came back. Sergeant Martin Luther and one of 
the others and myself told him that we must have water for the 
men and we would go with him. He went to the bluff' and showed 
us where the shots came from and we watched while he went down 
and got the water. We saw the flash of a gun and we fired in a vol- 
ley and that was the last shot fired from that side that night. We 
had no trouble to get water afterwards. Towards morning we 
moved back to Brownsville. \\ e remained at this place a few days. 
There was one command sent out to take Augusta, about 
twenty-five miles from us, under command of Colonel Merrill of 
the 2nd Missouri Cavalry. He had 2,000 men, but he returned 
without taking it. General Davidson then ordered Major Lippert 
to go out and take it and told him he could have all the men he 
wanted. The ]\Iajor said to him: "I will take it with my three com- 
panies tonight." About dark we started out and about two o'clock 
were entering the town of Augusta. There was a large house all 
lit up. I suppose the Major was well posted. He had guides and 
our company, "C," were in advance. AVe came to a halt and the 
Major turned to the Captain and said : "Send some men and sur- 



44 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



round that house. There is an officer in it ; capture him." The Cap- 
tain told four men to dismount. James Jonas started in the door 
ahead of me when a shot was fired. He fell back and said he was 
shot. I entered with W. F. Bacon. We went all over the house 
but there was not a man in it. We then went back to the line and 
found that Jonas had gotten into the saddle and had told of being 
shot. I went to him and asked him where he was shot. He showed 
me his foot. A ball had entered the top of his foot and gone 
through, tearing ofif the sole of his boot. He was in great pain. I 
asked him if his carbine was loaded. He told me it was. I took 
it up and looked through it but there was no load in it. I told him 
then that he had shot himself. He had his revolver in hand when 
he entered and his carbine had struck the door and went off. 

We then charged the town. There were barracks for 3,000 
men. Some were lit up with pine torches. We rode through them 
that night. There were about 300 sick and wounded in these bar- 
racks. We did not molest them or take an}' prisoners. General 
W^alker had command of about 3,000, but had left three days before. 
We went around the town and came in front of a large residence 
which was all lit up. The command halted and the Major rode up 
to the front gate and opened it. We marched in and he ordered 
us to camp. Company A take this side and Company B that. Com- 
pany C he dismounted and went into the house. There were sev- 
eral women in the house. My platoon was in the corner of the 
yard near the hen house. There was a smoke house farther back 
and the women complained to the Major that the soldiers were 
taking their things. . He had a guard placed at the door but before 
my platoon had gotten supplied from the back window the meat 
was all gone. The chickens soon began to crow. 1 saw that my 
platoon had six or eight chickens picked and a sack of sweet pota- 
toes but had nothing to cook them in. I took a man and reconnoi- 
tered a little and found a large kettle turned down in the back 
yard. I took it to the boys. They had some water and had started 
a little fire. We could see the Major asleep on the floor and the 
women folks had the table set. We kept watch of the Major and 
kept our kettle boiling but the thing would foam and run over. 
Sometimes the foam would be two feet high. The Major soon got 
up and we expected to see him eat the breakfast that had been pre- 
pared for him by the ladies of the house, but he refused to do so. 
He came out and passed around among the men and told them to 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 45 

soon be ready to move for it was getting light. Then he came 
along to the platoon and spoke to me. "Corporal Field," he said, 
"what have you got in that kettle?" I told him I did not know what 
to call it, but took a stick and stirred it up. There were about half 
a bushel of sweet potatoes and five or ten chickens in it boiling to- 
gether. He asked if they were done and I told him I thought they 
were. He said: "I want one of them." H^e handed me his haver- 
sack and an old newspaper and I rolled one up and gave it to him. 
He told me to get the mount for he was going to have the bugle 
sounded and we would soon move. He had it sounded and we 
started back to Brownsville. On our way back about noon or a 
little after, 1 saw the Major riding back to me. I could not ♦^hmk 
what was up for he was a very stern man and strict in discipliii'- I 
had been thinking of the old kettle. I had concluded in my own 
mind that it had been used for a soap kettle and had never Iv^-en 
cleaned and that was the cause of the foam. I expected a repri- 
mand from him, but he said: "Corporal, that was one of the l)est 
chickens I ever ate," and he thanked me for it. I felt relieved from 
what was on my mind and I assure you I did not tell him what 1- '.r,<] 
of a kettle it had been boiled in. We arrived at Brownsville at our 
old camping ground and General Fred Steele arrived with ab'-ut 
7,000 or 8,000 infantry. We had nine regiments or cavalry in our 
division. Together we made quite an army. 

The next night Major Lippert was sent out to skirmish or 
capture some of the enemy's pickets that were between us a;,c! 
Little Rock. \A'e crossed the bayou that night going out to the 
edge of Grand Prairie where they were reported to have a large 
picket post. ^Ve had passed through the timber on to the edge 4 
the prairie when the command halted, and soon I saw Captain May 
and Major Lippert riding down the line inquiring for Corporal 
Field. I rode out to them and the Major took me to one side and 
told me to go back to camp and report to General Davidson that he 
had passed out on to the Prairie beyond where the enemy's pickeis 
were posted and had found none and was going on to Debouls 
Railroad bridge that night and rout and capture pickets there. He 
said: "I want him to know where 1 am and where I went, if I am 
lost. Now you go back and report to him and you can have one 
man to go with you and choose your own man." I choose Sylvester 
Babett of my old company. He told me to be careful for they 



46 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

might have fallen back in the woods to let us pass by and w(\iild 
try to capture me. 

Babett and myself started back to camp with Morfield sabres 
and revolvers in hand. I told Babett to be quiet and if the enemy 
fired upon us to put spurs to his horse and we would go through all 
right. All we would have to do would be to guard our horses bits 
from being grabbed. We moved cautiously and found our way 
back all O. K. I approached the general headquarters, which c:n 
sisted of a bunch of tents marked in front by each officer's name, 
but the sentinel would not let me pass. I told him to call the ser- 
geant. He said I had no countersign, but he went with me when 
I had told him my mission. I went to the General's tent — it was 
about one o'clock. I could find no one in it. His cot was all made 
up but no one was there. I then went to the adjutant general's 
tent. He was sound asleep and I had hard work to wake him. When 
he awakened he wanted to know what I wanted. I told him I was 
ordered to report to General Davidson. He said I could not see 
him. I told him my orders were private to the General. He then 
told me to deliver what I had to the General to him and he would 
stand all harm. I stated the message from Major Lippert and he 
said: "Now, I will tell you, Sergeant," getting up and going to his 
tent, "the General is out in that old log house and is trying to sleep 
a little tonight. He has not had any sleep for three nights. We 
have had fighting and skirmishing somewhere every day and to- 
night he is trying to get rest. Go to your camp and I will not'f}' 
him when he comes in." 

The next night, the 9th of September, 1863, the whole division 
of Cavalry moved to a point on the Arkansas River about eight 
miles below the city. Soon after daylight our battalion and Clark- 
son's Battery, as we called it (I do not know where it belonged but 
our old Adjutant was in command of it on that day) left our horses 
in the timber and went on foot through a corn field and came up 
near the river where the enemy had a battery opposite us across the 
river. They were fortified with cotton bales. They opened upon 
us with a terrific fire. Our battery responded and our battalion lay 
upon the ground close to them. There was desperate cannonading 
for some time. The enemy got range of us first. I lay close to the 
cassion wagon when a shell burst killing two horses and the man 
in charge. Sharpshooters were picking ofif the artillery men. Soo?i 
a cannon ball came plowing along going between Comrade W. 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 47 

Summer (who was lying about 12 feet from me) and me plow- 
ing a deep furrow in the ground and covering me with dirt and 
cornstalks. I scratched around and got so I could see. I looked for 
my comrade and he stuck his head out and was looking for me. (I 
have only met him once since the war, and that time the first thing 
he said to me was: "Do you remember where you and I were bur- 
ied alive?") The next shot from the enem3^'s gun proved that they 
had gotten range on our gun that my platoon was supporting, for 
the shot passed close to the muzzle of our gun and between the 
wheel and muzzle, breaking a piece of the muzzle axle. My pla- 
toon was then called on. We sprang to our feet and ran to the gun 
which we were ordered to move to the right to throw her out of 
range, and I, taking hold of a timber with the others to help move 
her, got my feet tangled in the long green corn stalks (they were 
not less than twelve feet long) and fell, the boys running a wheel 
over my legs. I laid there for some time and they thought me 
wounded from sharpshooters who were throwing shots also. I saw 
the Captain (Clarkson) sight all four of the guns and he said : "Now 
fire all at once." I could see the cotton bales go for he had gotten 
the range on them. This battery had lost some men and had not 
enough men to man the guns. Some of our boys had to help them. 
It was amusing to see green cavalrymen load those guns. We could 
soon stand up and see the enemy's horses running in every direc- 
tion and trees falling from our guns. They were silenced — we had 
driven them away. We then moved up the river where we found 
our division crossing the river. They had struck the river the 
night before where there was a steep bluff on the north side of the 
river and a sand bar on the south side. The river was low but 
steamboats had been running the day before and our men had 
taken down the blufT bank and forced the water out on the sand so 
it was shallow and our cavalry and artillery were crossing rapidly. 
The first Iowa and second Missouri Cavalry were over. We 
crossed over with our battalion and the battery. Soon all were over 
and we took up our line of march up the river, cavalry on the south 
side under command of Davidson and infantry on the north side 
under command of Major General Steele. Our line of battle and 
skirmish were kept even on both sides of the river and we came 
near a plantation. Our skirmish line had passed the main road 
and was under the bluff when a force of confederate infantry, who 
had lain in an orchard back of the house (our line of skirmishers 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



had passed on l^oth sides of it and did not see them) sprang upon 
our battery and seized two of our guns and made away with them. 
The first Iowa Cavalry were ordered to charge, which they did. In 
trying to recover they got two of the enemy's guns from them. We 
then moved on but were checked by a signal from Steele. I saw 
Cjeneral Davidson come to Major Lippert and talk with him. The 
enemy were fortified on the north side of the river and were com- 
manded by General Price. They .had a pontoon bridge across the 
river leading to the city. We could look up the river and see the 
city and the bridge. The enemy were retreating out of their works 
and crossing the river. They had undoubtedly seen our movements 
and thought that we would flank them. We were now in advance 
with our battalion under Lippert. He had us halt soon. I saw the 
first Iowa in line close to our rear. Also the tenth Illinois Cavalry 
and back still farther the second and third Missouri Cavalry. Gen- 
eral Davidson and Major Lippert rode in front of us. Soon Lip- 
pert came back and ordered us to draw sabres. He then ordered a 
charge blown from bugles and we started out wkh a yell. We had 
not gone far before the whiz of many a ball was screaming around 
our ears. We got into a dense smoke and then got sight of a wall 
of bayonets before us not twenty rods away. Are we to charge this 
with our little band was my thought. The Major was about two 
lengths of his horse in front of line and he gave command, "Pla- 
toons left wheel." I was glad of that command but was right guide 
of wheel which threw me next to the bayonets. There was not 
more than a rod to spare between the wall and me. We passed them 
in review in this way. when I could see the first Iowa had followed 
us but had taken to the right of us. We had gone to the left in 
some way and the Missouri Cavalry were coming. We had passed 
into a field and were moving toward a bluff which was in our front 
when a battery o])ened fire from this bluft", the balls going mto 
the ground in front of our line. We could see the enemy at our 
right, retreating, and the Cavalry dividing them. If they had not 
broken that line of wall we would soon have been in their rear. \\'e 
then made a dash ahead, when this battery upon the hill fired again. 
Our A.djutant called me out and 1 went with him. Major Lippert 
told him to go into the woods and reconnoiter and get the position of 
this battery which had been firing upon us. We had gotten a posi- 
tion so close to the bluft" that they were firing over us. Then the 
Adjutant passed to the left of our 1 battalion that rested near the rail 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 49 



fence by the timber. I went with him. He was formerly a corporal 
in my platoon when I was private. We went over the fence through 
the timber and started np the rise towards this battery. We were 
in thick brush and timber, when to our svirprise we came up to 
within ten rods of one of their guns. There were about ten men 
holding the gun down in a ravine just across the river. I could see 
the enemy's infantry force. The woods were full. I had my revol- 
ver in hand and Keys Danforth, our Adjutant, said: "Fields, don't 
fire, for they don't know who we are." They were retreating. I was 
not aware that we were so near the city. 

We rode a little farther when we came out by a house into the 
street in the suburbs of the city. On the next block the enemy's 
infantry were passing. We halted our horses and looked to our 
right and could see our Cavalry passing into the main part of the 
city. We put spurs to our horses and soon reached them. Had we 
been recognized by the enemy we would have been shot a thousand 
times. We were in our shirt sleeves and our horses were covered 
with prespiration and dust and we looked about the same for we 
had not had our clothing ofif for several nights and were nearly 
starved. We soon saw General Davidson and rode with him to the 
Governor's residence. I held several horses while the officers dis- 
mounted. Soon I heard a yell from the officers and out they came 
and said : "The city is ours — tell Lippert to move upon the arsenal 
immediately."." We rode to our command and advanced to the 
arsenal and camped. It was then sundown and Steele had the 
works on the other side of the city and made a stand on the hill out 
from the cemetery to the south of the city. We kept up a con- 
tinual fire across the city with shells over our heads, Steele's in- 
fantry and artillery returning it while we cavalry lay on our arms 
near the arsenal buildings. About ten o'clock firing ceased. We 
were lying on a sidewalk tr3ang to take a nap. We lay near a gate 
and I could see that the houses were all lit up and in one house 
there was a table set for supper. I told my camrades if they would 
watch I would enter this house and see if we could get something 
to eat. I did so. There was enough on the table for six or eight so 
I stepped back and brought in a few of the boys and told them 
that we would eat. They thought that we were going to destroy 
the city. There were two or three very ladylike women at this 
house. They were our enemies but let us have supper. They 
started to bring on more to eat but I would not let them. We pre- 



5 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



pared to eat what was put on the table for their own family and we 
ate all that was u])on the table. As I was about to leave I handed 
the lady some money. She refused to take it saying it was gorx' 
for nothing. 1 then told her she had better take it for the city was 
ours and we would hold it and their money would not be good for 
anything thereafter. She wanted to know if I really believed it 1 
t(dd her I did and she broke down and cried. I gave her the n^one\ 
and asked her to remember me. * 

We then left the house and went out to our horse'^. ! can nni 
say that I ever ate a light supper that did me so much good a.^ tlvit 
did. We were nearly used up — only fourteen of my com])r.i!\' -mi- 
tered the city. Idiey had been giving out every day for two weeks. 

The next day we were put under command of General f^ar.i 
Clayton — some six hundred or more of the cavalry and souh," .n- 
fantry and a few pieces of artillery. W'e followed Price's retreat 
towards Benton. Marmaduke commanded his rear division. Price's 
army all told was about ii.ooo men. W'e captured about aT his 
army stores at Little Rock. We pressed him hard the next ''ay, 
under command of (ieneral Paul Clayton, and caused him to set fire 
to part (jf his train of wagons and almndon them. Even some of 
his ammunition fell into our hands. General Marmaduke would 
play his old tricks as he did in Missouri on his raid. He had be- 
come known to us, however, and we would charge him and rout 
his whole army. We pursued them two days and the second day 
just at sundown or a little before, near Benton, they made a stand. 
I was with Adjutant Keys Danforth assisting him and he was act- 
ing aide for General Clayton. Clayton and Colonel Clarkson rode 
out on a high knoll in the timber a few rods to the left of the road. 
Adjutant Danforth took a glass and viewed the enemy going into 
camp in the x'alley below. J could see them with the naked eye. 
Clayton said to Clarkson : "Get }'our guns in here and plant them 
where we stand." It was done quickly and he ordered them to open 
up on a log house in the valley about one mile away, which was 
thought to be headcpiarters of the enemy for the night. They fired 
briskly for a few minutes. 1 could see that our shots were taking 
efifect on the building and soon we could see a colud of dust rise 
above the trees all over the valley. We could see that they had 
started to retreat again. General Clayton and Colonel Clarkson 
had dismounted and were viewing with glasses the enemy's move- 
ments. Soon 1 saw Clayton and Clarkson sjiring into their saddles 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 51 



and ride into the road. We followed them cautiously down the 
hill into the road. We were ahead of our line then and as we came 
to the foot of the hill at a little turn in the road we saw a white 
house that the main road passed. The General and Colonel were 
riding together, and the Adjutant and I followed. In front of this 
house in the road stood a woman. She had a pitcher and glass in 
her hand. She seemed surprised and stood looking first one way 
and then the other. There was a turn in the road and as the Gen- 
eral and Colonel rode up to her she still stood in the road. Clark- 
son said to her: "Can you tell trie where Marmaduke's or Price's 
headquarters are?" She said: "There goes Price and Marmaduke," 
pointing her finger, "they have just drank from this pitcher." We 
did not stop -to drink. Clayton and Clarkson drew revolvers and 
charged and we followed. We were soon in their dust. We came 
up to this log house where our artillery had fired and where the 
enemy were trying to get away with some of their wounded. This 
was a close call for these two generals. One or two minutes soon- 
er on our part would have caused us to have met face to face at this 
house and no other troops within quite a distance. Near this log 
house there were several of the enemy's killed or wounded. Can- 
non balls had passed through it and our army took possession of 
their camp. They had rail fires burning with whole quarters of 
beeves that had just commenced to cook, and shakes with corn 
dodgers on them when we took possession and went to camp for 
the night. 

Later in the evening our command and company went into the 
town of Benton. Marmaduke had fallen back al)out a mile out of, 
Benton, We camped between the two forces on the streets of 
Benton that night. There was not much rest for us as the inhabit- 
ants of the town were all up. ( )ur bugler, W. V. Bacon, and myself 
laid on the sidewalk in front of a residence, not more than six or 
twelve feet from the front door. They open the door and played 
the piano and sung their Southern songs, such as "Dixie," "l)on- 
nie Blue Flag," etc. They were splendid singers and it made me 
thiilk of home. Instead of spiting us they sang us to sleep. I was 
narly worn out from the hard campaign and fighting of those ten 
days. 

The next morning we found that the enem}- had retreated dur- 
ing the night, demoralized. We returned to Little Rock. Our 
company and the whole battalion was reduced in a few days, to 



52 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

less than one hundred men ; not from loss by being killed and 
wounded, but from sickness and being overtaxed from duty. We 
went into camp on the hill back of the seminary building on the 
edge of the city, where we finally captured what was a strong- 
hold of the West — the capitol and arsenal and the only railroad in 
the state at that time which gave us control of both the White and 
Arkansas rivers. In a few days our company was increased by the 
return of those who had been sick. 

There was an expedition of cavalry to start out to reconnoitre 
the northeastern part of the state, who were detailed from different 
regiments. The gallant Major Lippert was placed in command 
and I remember well the day he ordered his battalion into line. Lit- 
tle did he think it would be his last time to do so. W^e were all in 
line and the orderly sergeants asked how many men he wanted de- 
tailed. He told them in this way: "I make my own detail." He 
then stepped to the right of the battalion and said : "You step four 
paces to the front, and you step four paces to the rear, you step 
four paces to the rear and you stay in camp." When he came to 
me he said : "You step four paces to the rear — you stay in camp." 
I told him that I wanted to go with him, and he said: "No, Cor- 
poral Field ; you have been in every fight this regiment has had and 
now I am going to give you a rest," and that settled it. The men 
he took were those who had not been with him so much. Major 
Lippert knew nearly every man in his battalion. He made the raid 
and was successful, being gone back about two weeks. He was 
brought back in an ambulance and only lived a few days. About 
that time he was promoted to Brigadier General. It was a very 
sad day when we laid him to rest in the cemetery in the city of 
Little Rock. General Steele had charge of the funeral, with a large 
delegation of officers and his old command as pall bearers. Major 
Lippert had done too much service and was too ambitious. A 
braver soldier never led troops in battle. He had won his promo- 
tion and was the hero of many battles. He was twice wounded. 
He had made good soldiers of his men and was a good provider 
and was loved by all. After the death of Lippert there was a change 
in our company. We were taken for general escort duty. Our 
company, "C," was assigned to General Carr's division. 

We then built quarters for the men in the northern part of the 
city. All troops commenced winter quarters. There was a general 
court martial called, of ten commissioned officers and a detail of 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 53 



two infantries and two cavalries as orderlies. I was detailed to take 
charge of the orderlies and acted as sergeant of court. Many pris- 
oners were tried and brought down from the penitentiary. Several 
spies were tried and three were hung. One incident which occurred 
I remember well. A soldier who had been taken sick was in the 
Portsmouth hospital at Rhode Island, was tried as a deserter. I 
had charge of these prisoners while on trial at court. This man 
was at the hospital previously spoken of, when reported as a de- 
serter. My grandmother had had him at her home and cared for 
him. 1 made myself known to him and showed him her letters to 
me. He described her and her old home to me. I had lived there 
when a boy. I had a pleasant time with him and he was cleared 
from his charge. 

Little Rock was a splendid city and a healthy place for an 
army to recruit. I was sent out into the covmtry several times to 
take some prisoners. Once I was sent after two women, but they 
would not go with me until I let them ride on horseback. I was 
perfectly willing to do this for I did not know how I would have 
gotten them there any other way. I had some trouble with my 
orderlies but the court did not know it. I would go to the judge 
advocate and he would help me out. One day the court had com- 
pleted a case which contained some twenty or thirty sheets of pa- 
per and it was sealed in an official envelope and was to be sent to 
General Carr for his approval. I gave it to an orderly and sent him 
out. It was about half a mile to General Carr's headquarters. The 
orderly had been gone about a half hour when he returned to me 
drunk and said he had lost the envelope on the road going. What 
to do I did not know. The court had been sitting some three days 
and the whole proceedings were lost. If I was to blame, I knew 
my doom. I would lose my j^lace and be reduced to ranks. I went 
to the judge advocate and he cautioned me not to let any one know 
it, but to discharge my man and get another in his place. I did 
this and every few hours I would send an orderly to General Carr's 
headquarters to inquire if any envelope cantaining military papers 
had been delivered there, and back would come the answer, "No." 
Late in the afternoon, after court had adjourned, I rode up myself. 
One of General Carr's clerks told me that a soldier had just stepped 
in and laid an official package on the table. He had picked it up in 
the street that day and, seeing it was directed to General Carr's 
headquarters, thought he would bring it in. I saw it was the very 



54 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

package and all was right. The clerk did not report it and you may 
feel assured that I was relieved, as well as the judge advocate. The 
judge advocate's name was Captain James VV. Sennett, of the 40th 
Iowa Infantry. 1 have the printed list of the board of officers of 
that court in my possession at this writing, March 5th, 1895. One 
of the officers caused me some trouble. He was not always prompt 
in court and the judge advocate would send me out after him. He 
was a captain in the regular army and I used to think that he took 
a little Arkansas corn juice occasionally. I found him one day on 
the corner of the main street. A-s I came up to him he recognized 
me and said :"Look here. Sergeant," and pointed down to the side- 
walk. To my surprise there lay more than a dozen weapons — old 
pistols, dirk knives and everything imaginable. The streets were 
crowded and he stepped up to a man who was passing and said : 
"See here, you have weapons, deliver them, take them out." These 
were natives and orders were strict that no man was allowed to 
bear arms but soldiers. These orders were often violated, but they 
kept the weapons concealed. I told him court was called so he 
came with me. When I walked around the court room I had to 
wear my sidearms, sal)re and revolver. He would say to me, "Ser- 
geant, I want you to polish that scabbard and your buttons." Of 
course I would not reply to him in court, but one day he was an- 
noying me and I told him I was a volunteer and the government did 
not furnish button polish for volunteers. The court laughed at 
him. A few days after that he was absent and I was sent after him. 
I found him near the door — I think he had done this on purpose. 
He took me around back and said: "Sergeant, here are two dollars; 
now buy button polish and look slick." 1 could but take it. He did 
not know my right name and always called me Johny. 

I was very busy every day and went to my company at night. 
As I was on detached service I did not have to respond to roll call 
or do anything else in line of duty. One Sunday morning at ten 
o'clock our company was to be inspected by some officer of the 
division. Of course we did not know whom. I was not obliged to 
fall in line so I removed to the barracks. I looked out and who was 
the inspecting officer but this captain who had given me so much 
trouble. I thought of him and jumped into my bunk. Our company 
was in fine shape. The inspector passed through, inspected the 
company and then turned to the captain and said : "Where is 
Johny?" The captain did not know whom he meant. The inspector 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 55 



knew I belonged to that company, so he passed down the line say- 
ing: "I want to see Johny." All of the company wondered what he 
wanted. Finally I told the captain and had a good langh and said 
it had served him right. 

I was on duty until spring, when my company was taken as 
escort for General West. He was in command of all the cavalry. 
We remained his escort until the first of July, when our battalion 
was ordered to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Our regiment had been re- 
cruited by nine companies, and with our three old companies, it 
made a full regiment of three battalions. 

SCOUTING IN NORTHWESTERN ARKANSAS. 

Spring of 1864. — In Pursuit of General Shelby. 

After Price had crossed the Arkansas River and made his way 
north into Missouri, there was an expedition sent out from Little 
Rock. I was in the detail, under command of First Lieutenant 
George B. Kearney, of our company. ' The expedition consisted of 
cavalry of the army. There wasvone colonel of an Arkansas cavalry 
regiment and one captain of the loth Illinois cavalry. We moved 
in a northwesterly direction and had been out about two days when 
our command was divided at night and we kept up a night march. 
The captain of the loth Illinois Cavarly was our commander and 
Lieutenant Kearney was second in command. We left the main 
command and went west. This was an unsettled country. All the 
natives had left and it was thinly settled. There was nothing for us 
to eat. I think we had moved twenty or thirty miles that day be- 
fore we came to any settlement. Late in the afternoon we came to 
a large creek and was settled along the stream. I was the non-com- 
missioned officer in charge of the rear guard. That day we followed 
this stream and had to ford it several times. During the afternoon it 
was very warm. I rode a fine horse that had been captured from 
the Texas cavalry and was brander "C. S. A." and was southern 
stock. The water in this stream' was very cold and my horse was 
very fat and warm. When we forded the stream he took cramps 
and would fall and cause me to fall behind. He had fallen two or 
three times and caused me to delay my rear guard. I received or- 
ders from the advance commander to abandon my horse and not to 
get behind as the danger would be from the rear. He was afraid 
that we were being pursued by some of Shelby's men. I stuck to 



56 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



my horse for I did not want to hoof it in that Ozark country. About 
dusk we came u]) to a little grist mill and the boys said, "we have 
nothing to eat tonight." I told them we were close to the command 
and I would ride around the mill and see what we could find. We 
rode around to a back door and a couple of the comrades got ofif, 
went in and brought out some flour and we fastened it on the back 
of our saddles and started. I was bothered strapping my sack on 
and the others had started. I let my horse go and was turned in 
my saddle and was not noticing where he went. The command was 
going up the hill and my horse saw them and took after them. I 
noticed a little water in front of him but paid no attention to it. 
The first thing 1 knew, down I went, horse under me. The water 
was up to my shoulders. He had run into the mill race but had 
gathered himself and struck the opposite bank, sprang out and ran 
part way up the hill, when he took cramps and fell again. I then 
stripped my saddle and left him and ran to the top of the hill. 1 
could see the command going into camp. 1 looked back and my 
horse came up to me and we went into camp together. He was a 
noble horse 1)ut what to do I did not know. 1 met some of my old 
company and they said that the captain had told them that we 
would camp for the night. We had nothing for ourselves or horses 
to eat. lliere was a little house but no one living in it. The Cap- 
tain and Lieutenant Kearney were in the house and they sent for 
Sergeant Church and myself to come to them. We went in and 
there was a little council of war. We found that there was about 
lOO pounds of flour for al^out 8o men. That was all we had to 
eat and there was nothing in which to cook that — not a skillet or 
pan. llie captain had learned that General Shelby was camped in 
a house not far from us, and that we were sixty or eighty miles 
from any I'nion troops. It was dangerous for us to let a man out. 
He thought that General Shelby had a large force and might have 
men on our trail, so he had the flour brought t othe house and 
turned over to liini and Kearney. They talked among themselves 
and then told Church and I to take our horses and go outside and 
have the flour baked. They also told us to find Shelby's camp and 
get all the information we could, for they thought we would be at- 
tacked before morning and it was getting dark. 

We rode out of camp, passed out of our picket lines and found 
a little house. 1 dismounted and went to the house but found no 
one there. The family were all gone — everything seemed neat and 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 57 



tidy. I went to the fireplace and found a g-ood skillet. I thought I 
would take it to camp if I could not find a family at home so I 
strapped it to my saddle and we rode away. We found another 
house a short distance from there and rode to the front of it. Near 
the front gate sat an old man. He got up and looked at us and we 
sat in our saddles and said : "Youns have mighty fine horses. I 
suppose you are down from camp." I told him we were. He looked 
over my horse and said : "I gave your General Shelby a good horse 
and that looks a good deal like him. I wish I had another for him, 
I think a great deal of him. He was down here from camp this af- 
ternoon and made me a call. Light and come in." Our horses were 
both branded with Southern brands and we saw plainly that the old 
man took us for Shelby's boys, as he called us later on. Church, my 
comrade and Sergeant, was a shrewd man and older than myself. 
He gave me the wink and I let him do the talking with the old man. 
I took the sack of flour off my saddle and followed them to the 
stoop. He and Church had taken seats on the stoop and were talk- 
ing. An old lady was standing in the doorway with a chair in front 
of her and one knee on the chair and a couple of her daughters 
looking over her shoulders. I told her we had come down from 
camp and brought some flour which we wanted to get baked right 
quick for we wanted to get back. She looked me over and said, 
"youns look and talk like our (Shelby's) boys, but you have yanks' 
uniforms on." I saw the girls nudging the old lady and she finally 
said : "Down at Van fjuren on the Arkansas river, the yanks are 
and we hear that the yanks there are marrying our Southern girls 
during the war, but no yank will ever get one of my gals." But she 
really believed we were their boys for we talked right smart. 
"Come in," she said, "and I will bake up the cake if it takes off the 
other foot." I noticed then that she was a cripple. She then said 
that we would have supper. The girls were pleased and so was I. 
I sat down and chatted with the girls while the old lady ordered 
them arovmd getting supper and baking our flour into short cake in 
skillets before the fire place. My comrade had full control of the 
old man and was getting the information desired at headquarters 
of our camp, also at headquarters of our army at Little Rock, Ar- 
kansas. The old man was giving him every regiment and command 
under Shelby. It contained about 3,000 men and was only two miles 
from our camp. During that time a woman neighbor entered the 
house and the old lady introduced us to her as Shelby's boys. She 



J>8 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

said there were eight of Shelby's boys at her house and were going 
to stay all night. I asked her where she lived and she pointed to 
her house out of the door. I could see her light in the house. Sup- 
per was then leady and we were asked to take seats and we all sat 
up to the table. The lady was on an errand and could not stay for 
supper. I was glad when she left for I knew that she was ignorant 
of where we belonged. The old folks were still giving us good 
news and the girls were doing their best for us. They had a large 
wooden tray piled heaping full of short cake for us to take to camp. 
All of a sudden I heard a horse running in the road. I jumped up 
and ran to my horse when a soldier ran up to me and said : "Church, 
Field, is it you." Come in, one of our pickets is shot and killed." 

Church had followed me out. The man had talked so loud and 
had given us away for the girls had been listening to him. I rushed 
back into the house and grabbed the empty flour sack, filled it from 
the wooden tray and made for my horse and never said a word of 
goodby to the family. . We flew into camp and went to headquart- 
ers to the captain and lieutenant. There was another council held 
that night which was satisfactory to the captain and lieutenant. The 
short cake was divided. We were an uneasy and anxious lot of 
soldiers waiting to see the dawn of day. 

The captain ordered us to take a platoon and make haste to 
the house and guard it so that they could not get news to Shelby's 
troops of our being there, and in the morning as soon as daylight, 
some would come our way and get us and would bury the man that 
was shot. The captain told us that our only way of escape would 
be to make Van Buren on the Arkansas River. They were our 
nearest troops but were sixty miles away, and if Shelby got track of 
us he would have cut off our retreat. I believe that our little band 
of 80 men (mostly picked men) well mounted, would have made a 
desperate charge, although it looked as if it would be a miracle 
should we ever get back. We went to the house and found it was 
all closed and the blinds fastened. We went up to the stoop and 
posted our men out each way. One man went down the road and 
stationed himself near the house where the eight soldiers from 
Shelby's army were. They had a light all night and played cards. 
Our man was so close that he could look in at the window and see 
them. The reserve and Church and myself stood on the stoop most 
of the time. There was no sleep and a close watch was kept. About 
daylight the old lady opened the front door and said to me: "Is 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 59 

those two young men here that ate supper here last night? If they 
are I want to see them." I asked her if she would know them if 
she saw them. She said: "No; not from Adam." I then spoke to 
Church and he came up and we asked what she wanted. She said 
she wanted them to come in. We went in and told her we were the 
men. The girls recognized us and told her. The old man sat in a 
chair crying and the old lady broke down and said: "I acknowledge 
that I have been beaten by a yankee once." We were asked to sit 
up and have breakfast with them, while the old man begged of us 
not to destroy his property. He said that we were the first yanks 
that he had ever seen. We gave him good promises. 

Our command came along and we started, with orders not to 
fire at anything. While passing the house where the eight soldiers 
were they came out and were looking at us from the back of the 
house and as soon as our rear passed they ran into the swamp. We 
made a hasty retreat and arrived safely at Van Buren about sun- 
down that night, and were with our troops once more. We had 
fully accomplished what the captain said was wanted — to know 
where Shelby was and the amount of his command. 

MARCH TO PINE BLUFF— 1864. 

We left Little Rock to join our nine new companies about the 
1st of July, 1864, under command of Captain May. He had com- 
mand of the three companies, as Captain Erskine was made Lieut- 
enant Colonel and Captain Behledorf was made Major. We reached 
Pine Bluff the first day. I was Sergeant of the rear guard. Our 
command had been in Little Rock so long that many of the boys 
had found out where to get their canteens filled with whiskey. It 
caused many of them to stagger that day and they were arrested by 
the rear guard. We had our hands full before night. I had to dis- 
arm quite a number of men and place them under guard, but they 
would get away. One German comrade in particular, took a by- 
road and I was obliged to go after him. He was perfectly wild and 
had lost his sabre and hat. I finally came upon him. He was sit- 
ting in the edge of a piece of brush near the road. I could see he had 
something in front of him. He had his revolver in hand and was 
pointing it into the brush. I rode up from behind and he did not 
notice me. 1 looked to see what he had. It was a large negro and 
he had him down on his knees and was making him pray. If the 
negro had refused he would have shot him. I approached quickly 



60 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

and said: "Let me shoot him, give me your revolver." He looked 
at me and knew me and handed his revolver right up to me. That 
was a happy darky you may believe. I had to hustle my comrade 
back to command for we were probably a mile away from them. 
After we g'ot back we went into camp for the night. The next 
morning for some reason or other, I was assigned to take command 
of the advance guard. There was a report that the enemy were in 
our advance. 

We marched along until about twelve o'clock, when I came in 
sight of some troops. They were our men who had been sent out 
from Pine Bluff under cammand of James E. Teale. About twenty 
cavalrymen had been sent out by Teale to repair the telegraph wire 
that had been destroyed by the enemy the night before. Lieuten- 
ant Teale was my first sergeant and belonged formerly to our com- 
pany, but had been promoted to a lieutenancy in one of the new 
companies. Of course he was glad to meet me and see his old com- 
rades and so we halted. He soon left us and returned back towards 
Pine Bluff. He came along to my platoon and as he passed he told 
me that Captain May had told him to tell me that when I reached 
Muddy Bayou with the advance I should halt and find camping 
grounds for the command to camp for the night. He then left us 
saying that he would have to go in order to reach Pine Bluff' that 
night, and that the Bayou at which we were to camp was ten miles 
this side of Pine Bluff'. 

We had not traveled more than an hour when it commenced 
to rain. We had quite a shower and then it cleared off and the siui 
came out. We passed along a mile or so. I saw a large trail that 
came into the road from the timber, which showed that a force had 
entered the road ahead of us. I halted my command and sent a 
man back to Captain May. He sent me more men and orders to 
throw out a skirmish line. We had not ad\-ance(l far before I dis- 
covered that the track extended into the timber and that an engage- 
ment had happened there. A little farther on I found the body of 
a man. We could not tell who he was or to which side he belonged 
as he was stripped of his uniform and was lying in the middle of 
the road. I advanced until I came in sight of the bridge that crossed 
the bayou where I was to camp for the night. Near the bridge I 
found several dead and wounded horses. I rode upon the bridge and 
looking through the timber some eighty rods or more, to the right, 
1 discovered a line of mounted troops with their colors, the stars 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 61 

and bars, floating. To my left was the bayou and if we crossed over 
with our command they would sweep down upon us. I sent word 
back to Captain May that the enemy were in force and in line of 
battle to the right of us in the timber. He sent more men to my 
skirmish line and sent word for me to keep advancing in line and 
hold the road. I could look back and see that Captain May had 
thrown one company to the rear of our train of wagons, which were 
only six in number, and had two companies in line of battle. We 
crossed over this bridge, threw out our skirmish line and advanced. 
One of Teale's men who had had his horse killed had hid himself 
behind a log near the bridge. He recognized us and got up and 
came to us. He stated that the enemy had formed an ambush at 
the bridge when Lieutenant Teale came up, and, finding the bridge 
covered with them, Teale could not turn back and ordered his men 
to charge on the bridge. It had been a desperate charge — only 
twenty men to make their escape from a force of ten times their 
number, for their line showed a larger force than our three compan 
ies. This man stated to me that Teale had escaped, he thought, 
with two or three men only. The most of his men were either 
killed, wounded or taken prisoners. We then advanced to a house 
near the road. In this house I could see wounded men lying on 
the floor. Just beyond the house we found the telegraph wire cut 
and stretched across the road like a fence, to prevent our horses 
from passing. We tore this away. Our main line was then over 
the bridge. I could still see the enemy in line advancing a little 
farther upon the hill. At my front in the main road I saw a pla- 
toon of mounted men across the road who were watching our 
skirmish line. I halted my line. What could this be, I thought, to 
my left the line of battle, on the other side the deep bayou, and if 
this is also the enemy we are in a trap, and the whole command now 
over the bridge. I made up my mind cjuickly that I would investi- 
gate. I thought possibly that these men in front might be Lieuten- 
ant,Teale's men. I posted two men and ordered them to fire. If they 
opened fire on me I would advance so I rode out about half way 
and hailed them. They said they belonged to the 13th Illinois 
Cavalry and were under command of Major Behlendorf who had 
been sent out from Pine BlufT by General Clayton to reinforce three 
companies of the old regiment that were on the road, and that 
Lieutenant Teale was with them, but that he had made his escape 
and reached Pine BlufT. I could only see eight or ten men but 1 



G2 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



advanced and when I came within ten rods of them, thev halted 
me and ordered me to stop. I asked them what was the matter. 
They told me that Major Behlendorf had ordered them to shoot 
me down and not tc^ let me in for 1 was alurking from the enemy's 
lines, a spy. I did not check my horse. I told the men they 
could see where 1 came from — that there was the three old compan- 
ies back on the road. They told me that they believed I was all 
right. T begged them not to fire for 1 was their prisoner and was 
coming in anyhow and for them to send for Major Behlendorf and 
Lieutenant Teale. I then, approached them and could see over the 
hill. To the left 1 could see the four companies of Behlendorf's 
command. Me had placed them below the hill so they would not 
be seen by the enemy, and these men on the hill were his advance. I 
soon saw Major Behlendorf and the Lieutenant coming and I told 
the men who they were and that they must defend me. They were 
riding fast and the Major had his revolver in hand and was shout- 
ing to his men to shoot me or he would. I then hollered to Lieu- 
tenant Teale not to let Major Behlendorf shoot me, that his men 
were green troops and Teale knew me. Not more than six hours 
had passed since I had seen him that day. The Alajor drew his re- 
\-olver to shoot me, but Teale threw up his hands and grabbed him 
by the arm and held him from shooting me. They then turned 
their horses and came back. Behlendorf, seeing me, said: "What ails 
}-ou?" "This is Corporal Field," I said, "of old Company C." You 
may imagine what a man passes through to save his command. He 
then saw our command riding" quickly to Captain May and ordering 
him to advance with his forces over the hill while I advanced with 
ni}' advance, and Major Behlendorf followed in the rear of May's 
command. It was now getting dusk in the evening. I left relieved 
for the enemy were now to our rear. 1 soon heard skirmishing in 
the rear. The enemy were pursuing us and did so for several miles 
l)ut did not prexxnt our gaining Pine Bluff about one o'clock that 
night, llie enemy's force consisted of a regiment of Arkansas 
confederate cavalry. Had they known what a small force we had 
I think they could have taken us, but would haxe had a struggle to 
have done it for our men were experienced and Captain May was 
•a good commander. Captain May had been victorious before in 
saving his men against four times his number. 

.After arrixing at Pine PUuft we learned from Lieutenant Teale 
that he had cliarued the bridge and that tMil\- (jue or two men had 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 63 



made tlieir escape. While passing through the whole force of the 
enemy some twenty or more tried to capture him. His clothing 
was torn and his horse badly scratched and cut up, but he had saved 
our three old companies and I shall have to give him credit for 
saving my life on that day. 

Pine Blufif was commanded by General Powell Clayton. There 
were from two to three thousand effective troops. It was a very un- 
healthy place and many were sick. Our nine new companies of 
green troops (not drilled) had been here some time and were doing 
picket and out post duty. There was work for us here to help 
these men out in drill. ( )f course we did not have to drill, but were 
sent out on dangerous out posts with these men and on scouting 
and foraging expeditions. They had not become acclimated to the 
swamps and hot suns of the sunny south; as we had, for this was 
our third summer in Rackensock, as we called it. They were very 
sickly and averaged from two to three deaths a day from our regi- 
ment. Many of their ofificers proved incompetent and would resign 
and men from the old companies were put in their places. Our 
pickets were posted out from one to two miles on all important 
roads that led into the town . Fortifications were built that nearly 
surrounded the city and encampments. All of the main buildings, 
court house and some of the residences showed the marks of can- 
non balls which had been fired through them the fall before when 
General Clayton defended it from Marmaduke's army. I ]~)ut in a 
good deal of time on the outposts. Each one contained about twenty 
cavalrymen, with a lieutenant as commander, one sergeant and 
three corporals. I was acting sergeant and when on duty was sec- 
ond in command of one of these posts. Lack of well men and 
cavalry kept me on duty fully one half of the time and we were out 
most of our time either on picket duty or on some scouting or forag- 
ing expedition. There was not much leisure for a man who was fit 
for duty. But it was hard on those poor boys of the new companies 
who were only from 17 to 19 years old. Many a morning at day- 
break at an outpost, where there was danger, I would find them 
asleep, worn out, homesick and suffering with chills and fever, and 
with no ambition. It was said they were put there to make them 
see what danger was, for they had never been attacked or surprised 
by an enemy as I had. We would often be out on one of these roads 
three days and nights before we would be relieved. With false 
alarms and bushwhackers we would not get any sleep. I have been 



64 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



out for three nights and not slept for fear I would wake and find 
nearly every man asleep. Several of these posts of cavalry were 
entirely wiped out in one night by the enemy gueiillas. Alost any 
night you would hear shots fired from some post. At one of the 
posts I was acting sergeant and one morning about daybreak I 
heard the advance vedetta call for sergeant of the guard. I made my 
way to him. He was posted by the side of the road that led out 
across an opening in the timber. He told me that he saw a rebel 
soldier cross the road down at the edge of the timber. I sat down 
by him and soon we saw the soldier he spoke of come out again into 
the road and start up toward where we were. He could not see us 
for we were near some brush. He stood there for a few moments 
and then moved up the road toward us again, but very slowly. My 
vedette got uneasy and wanted to fire on him. I told him that he 
must not, that the man was our prisoner and we could take him 
auA^way and we would only alarm the camp. The rebel soon got 
nearly opposite me. I stepped out in the road in front of him and 
he threw up his hands and fell upon the ground. He was very weak 
and poor in flesh. He asked me to what command I belonged and 
if I Vv^as a union soldier. I told him I was and he was so glad that 
he was overcome with joy at finding himself safe once more. He 
was so weak that we had to lead him. He was a soldier of the 5th 
Kansas cavalry and had been a prisoner in Camp Tyler, Texas, for 
three or four months and had made his escape with others. He had 
not seen a union soldier since his capture. I told him his regiment 
was at Pine Pduif and that we would send him to it after a while. 
He was so weak that everything would overcome him. We kept 
him until noon, giving him a little to eat at a time. It would not 
<1() to have given him what he wanted. He told us that he had lived 
on roots and berries for days and had given up ever reaching our 
line several times. Some of his comrades had died since their es- 
cape and others were back on the road. They did not dare go near 
any house and had traveled nights and laid in the woods in the 
daytime. We put him on a horse and two of (^ur men went with 
him to his old company. (Xir boys told them who he was but the 
company did not seem to know him, he was so weak and poor and 
ragged, with an old confederate uniform on. Finally he recognized 
some of the company and called them by names. Some of them 
then identified him and soon all was right. Such a sight I hope 
never to see again. I shall remember him as long as I live. Such 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 65 



itihunian treatment of human beings. They suffered more than 
death from torture and starvation. 

T was on a post one night that had been routed and fired upon 
l)v the enemy a few nights before and was considered one of dan- 
ger. I had posted one of the outside vedettes to sit on his horse 
under a tree. It was a. moonlight night and you could see quite a 
distance. Mosquitoes were bad and the horses would stamp all 
night. I then told my vedette to dismount and lie on the ground 
and watch his horse for the horse would see and move quicker than 
he could and he would hear on the ground any movements. I re- 
turned to reserve. Soon I heard a shot fired in his direction. I went 
out to him. A shot had been fired from the timber and a ball had 
passed through the pommel of his saddle. Such a thing was fre- 
quent in those parts and we had to use all the caution we possibly 
could and sometimes our orders to our vedettes were in violation 
of those of our superior officers in order to save our men. 

I went on several scouting expeditions. There was quite a 
scare below and a report came to Pine Bluff that the enemy had 
captured some of our boats about twenty miles below. A cavalry 
expedition was quickly gotten up of about 80 cavalymen from our 
regiment commanded by a Lieutenant and a few men from the 5th 
Kansas. We left General Clayton's headquarters just before sun- 
down. These cavalrymen were put into four platoons and I was 
assigned at General Clayton's headquarters, to one platoon which 
was used as rear guard. That night going down it rained very hard 
and it was hard work for us to keep our powder dry. A little while 
before daylight we arrived opposite to where the boats had been 
captured. As it grew lighter we advanced toward the river and 
soon the Lieutenant ordered me to dismount my platoon and form a 
skirmish line and advance to the river. The river was probablv 
eighty rods wide at this point. We soon came in sight of a high 
bank and we could look across and saw two of our own steamboats 
lying on a sandbar on the opposite side and were burning. I had my 
men posted behind trees. The lieutenant came up and got behind 
a tree and took his glass to see if he could discover anything of the 
enemy. Soon he ordered me to have my men fire at the roots of 
some trees on the opposite side. I told him I could see nothing 
there to fire at, but he still persisted that there were men lying on 
the ground and that he could see them. I gathered in my men and 
we fired several volleys with carbines. We had no opposition for 



6G THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

they did not return fire. Afterwards we got in some shots where 
he wanted them and to his surprise a lot of hogs rose up out of a 
wallow near the tree and we could hear their awful squealing clear 
across the river. The joke was on the Lieutenant. He then or- 
dered us to fire on the wrecked boats saying that the enemy were 
back of the rocks. Two or three darkeys or natives ran out. They 
were on mules and made across the sand bar for the timber These 
boats had been loaded with sutler goods and mail for the army. 
These two or three we plundered and he ordered the two howitzers 
up and had the tim1)er shelled. We got no response from the 
enemy. Where they were we did not know. There were a number 
of steamboats quite a ways down the river but they dared not pass 
to a certain point in the river. They were loaded with officers and 
soldiers from the army who had been home on furlough and were 
returning to Little Rock and Pine Blufif. The Lieutenant had a man 
get into the river and swim down and have the boats come up. 
While he was gone the Lieutenant went to a house nearby and left 
the command in line. The man could see things floating from the 
wrecks of the boats to our shore. I told the men in my platoon 
that I would go down under the bluff with a man and see what we 
could find and told them to let me know when they saw the Lieut- 
enant coming. We went down and in a few minutes we found a 
box of plug tobacco. We lugged it up the bank and went to a wagon 
and got a hatchet and opened it and passed it along the line giving 
each a plug who wanted it. We then saw the boats coming up the 
river and they pulled in under the l:)ank near us and landed there. 
There were several army officers on the ])oats and we were ordered 
to place the two howitzers upon the hurricane deck that their boats 
might have protection up the river which was done. These officers 
called me up on the boat and gave me a pail of whiskey and a cup, 
stating that my men were in bad shape. They were wet and com- 
plaining. I think one of the officers was a surgeon of the army. He 
gave me the cup and told me the amount to give each man, which 
was small, saying it would do them no harm. The Lieutenant had 
gone into the cal)in. The men were all busy with planks and ropes 
getting the howitzers on deck. As soon as the guns were loaded 
the Lieutenant came out and wanted his horse and gave the com- 
mand to farward and said he was going to beat the steamboats to 
Pine Bluff". Our men were not in line. He started on the road up 
the river and a Sergeant with him. What to do I did not know so 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 67 



I told the other Sergeant who was assigned to the rear the night be- 
fore that I would take the rear and all men must keep ahead of my 
platoon. All of us then dashed off. I took the road and followed 
up with my platoon and they were in the road a little way ahead of 
me. We had gone perhaps two or three miles when I saw the 
Lieutenant sitting on his horse by the side of the road. My platoon 
were walking their horses, but I could not tell what was up. It was 
getting to be night. There were two men just ahead of me whose 
horses had nearly given out. The Lieutenant halted them and or- 
dered them to dismount and go on foot, which they refused to do. 
Some words passed and I saw the Lieutenant draw his revolver. I 
was nearly opposite him. He had no more than got it out of sheath 
before three or four of my platoon passed by me with revolvers in 
hand. I wheeled my horse and sprang between them and the 
Lieutenant and ordered them back in line. The Lieutenant handed 
his revolver saying: "I will surrender to you. Sergeant." I told 
him to put his revolver in the holster and ride to the front of his 
men and stay there, and that I would take care of the rear. I saw 
that he had probably overloaded in the steamboat. Things quieted 
down and a steady march was kept up. Our men had been out 
when we reached Pine Bluff and had ridden between forty and fifty 
miles in a hard rain for over thirty hours and were soaked. Our 
horses were in bad shape. Neither horses or men had been fed.. 
We were in a bad humor. The men in my platoon asked me what 
would be done when we reached Pine Bluff. They said I would be 
arrested. I told them I might, but under the circumstances what 
else could I do, and if we were attacked by. the enemy I would have 
to assume command and that we were in as much or more danger 
than the night before, if those 300 men were any where about. We 
arrived at General Clayton's headquarters about 10 o'clock that 
night and were drawn up in line. The Lieutenant had gone in to 
make his report. He and the Adjutant General soon came out and 
stood around, when along came a Sergeant with a platoon of infan- 
try with fixed bayonets, in front of our line. The orderly sergeant 
was ordered to dismount and give up his arms and also four of the 
other old boys who had drawn their revolvers, and were marched 
down town to the guard house under charge of this platoon of in- 
fantry. The balance were ordered to break ranks and go to quar- 
ters. I felt relieved, but was not satisfied for some of our bravest 
and best men with whom I had been for over three years, and who 



G8 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



had never been arrested or failed to do duty, were in prison. I 
then took care of my horse and went to my tent. I could see that 
the officers" tents were all lit up and men were reiiorting to the of- 
ficers. They were all anxious to know the result for all of the mail 
of the army was captured and burned or lost. I soon saw our of- 
ficers runnino" toward Col. Erskins' quarters. He was our Colonel 
and Commanding Brigadier. He had laid down to rest. Our Lieut- 
enant soon came to my tent saying: "Sergeant I^ield, I want you to 
go with me to Colonel Erskins' headquarters." I got up and started 
not knowing what would come next. \Mien we entered the tent I 
saw it was full of commissioned officers. The Colonel said: "Ser- 
geant Field, you step out there," pointing to the center of the tent. 
"X^ow, you report this expedition to these officers; everything that 
occurred, from the beginning to the end." I did so, just as I have 
to you who will read this. "There are no charges against you," said 
the Colonel, "?JA I have to say is that you should have taken the 
Eieutenant's revolver from him and put him under arrest and as- 
sumed full command and reported the command at headquarters 
yourself." 1 told the Colonel that I did not know that I had full 
authority but intended to take command if we had been attacked 
by the enemy. He then ordered the Lieutenant to have the men re- 
leased in the morning and if they were not he would dismiss him 
from the service. 1 think it took some coaxing the next day for 
General Clayton to release them, but the men were all finally re- 
leased. 

I was taken sick and had to remain in camp for several days 
and was under the doctor's care for about a month. I then went on 
duty again and was sent out on picket duty. 

On Se]:)tember 6th, 1864, we were hemmed in at Pine Blufif, be- 
ing surrounded by a large force of the enemy under command of 
(reneral Alagruder. They had lain around and cut oft' our supplies 
and our forces had been living on condemned rations, b^or several 
days things looked rather blue for us, as we had not more than 2,000 
efl'ective troops, but we were well fortified. We had to be up dur- 
in.g the night and out on the skirmish line every morning at day- 
light. Our old companies were sent out each morning beyond for- 
tifications to watch for the enem\'"s moNcments. \N e remained in 
this way for several days. Our hardtack was getting lively — it Avas 
two vears old — and would move of its own accord. We could 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 69 

choose our own piece of pickled pork — we had to make the best of 
it. 

A force of four times our number was within two miles of us 
but did not dare make the attack. 

On the 6th day of October a force of cavalry came down on the 
north side of the river from Little Rock to reinforce us, under com- 
mand of Colonel Rutter. There were about 600 men. The next day 
we were sent out Vv'ith the command. Nearly every cavarly regi- 
ment seemed to be represented. W'e were a force of some 800 cav- 
alry. MagTuder had fallen back and was making his way south to- 
ward the Red River country. We traveled but a short time when 
we were on his trail. We camped eighteen miles from Monticello 
on the first night, and on the morning of the 8th of October, 1864, 
we took the road to Mt. Elbe. It was said that Magruder had 10,- 
000 men and that we were on his trail. It was a big trail to follow. 
That morning a detail was made and all that were in were old sol- 
diers who had served three years. There were sixty detailed for the 
advance guard, under First Lieutenant I. B. Henry of our company 
and he was assigned command of these sixty men from various 
regiments. I was acting second in command and was ordered with 
a platoon of sixteen men to take the extreme advance and throw 
out a skirmish line. We had camped only a few miles in the rear 
of the enemy that night. I soon came in sight of their camp fires. 
That morning we passed through their camp and as I passed be- 
yond their fires I looked across a little opening. I could see a 
large group of horses being led into line. I halted my skirmish 
line and sent back for Lieutenant Henry. He came up and reviewed 
them. The men were preparing to mount. There were some thirty 
or forty of them. The Lieutenant told me to draw my skirmish line 
in. I did so quickly and he said: "Now draw your sabres and charge 
them." The enemy were some sixty rods from us. We made a 
charge with our sabres and they were mounting before we got with- 
in ten rods of them. The last had broken and gone into the timber 
and was out of sight. 

I dismounted every fourth man and threw them out as skirm- 
ishers and drove them to the ford. This was called ]\It. Elbe ford. 
As the enemy struggled through and out we wounded some of them 
arid as we came up to the ford I halted my line and stepped upon 
the bank to look over. The stream was not more than ten rods 
across. There were some willows near the stream about three or 



rO THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



four feet high. I could see the willows wave and saw a man crawl 
into them. I ordered my men to the right of the road behind some 
trees near by. I had no more than given the command when 1 
saw from 60 to lOO men rise to their feet and lire a volley at me and 
my men. We could not have been more than fifteen rods from 
them. They saw that I was not going to cross and thought they 
would take advantage of the opportunity. I had intended to send 
two or three men over to reconnoitre for I expected it was an am- 
bush and it was well planned too. But they were hasty and I es- 
caped behind a tree and all of my men had found trees. It was a 
lively fight for about ten minutes. Our trees were riddled with bul- 
lets. My hat had three holes in it. and there was not less than 
twenty holes in the tree. Lieutenant Henry soon crept up to me 
behind the tree. He had brought his men up to our horses and 
came to my rescue. There was a bluff back of us and it would have 
been death to have retreated back. A ball had passed so close to 
my ear that it burnt my hair and went through my hat. I was asked 
by the Lieutenant to take command. He said: "Xow look to your 
flanks and let me shoot." He was lying down behind me. I sent 
a Corporal and two men to the right. They ran about twenty rods, 
got behind some trees and made a cross fire on them. The Corporal 
told me afterwards that he did not see how we escaped for the 
enemy were so close and had gotten in some twenty rounds before a 
shot was tired at them. I had only two or three cartridges left. I 
had to let the smoke clear away and then pick their men. I had not 
thought of surrendering. I expected to see two or three hundred 
men from down the hills to reinforce us. but thev did not come. 
The firing from the willows finally ceased and we ceased also and 
stepped out. The enemy had fallen back some twenty or thirty 
rods to tall tind^er and were shouting: "Come over on this side and 
we will pay you back." Shortly afterwards we gave a yell. W'e knew 
the victory was ours for they were retreating. We did not 
get any word from our men telling us why they did not come up 
and it was a mystery to me. We were soon standing around in 
gTf)U]js looking back and wondering why our men didn't come to 
us. We then saw a soldier back near the hill who had come out 
from some brush and we called him up. He was one of our men 
and we asked him where the others were. He said that Colonel 
Xoble had sent him down to reconnoitre the flat ; that the enemy 
had surrounded the advance guard and captured them. I^ieutenant 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 71 

Henry told me to go back and report to the commander. He said: 
"You have done this fighting and I will stay here and hold the 
ford." This man piloted me up the bluff. He said that the Colonel 
was just up the hill with a lot of dismounted men. As 1 went up, 
I saw an officer looking over a stump. He said to me as I went up 
to him: "Here he is." I shall never forget him for I was not in a 
good humor at that time. The man told him that I was from the 
advance. I had never seen the Colonel in command to know him. 
I asked hini if he was in command and he said that he was. I shall 
never forget what I said to him and his looks and reply. The first 
thing I said was : "Why did you not send men to me when we were 
fighting?" Pie had three or four hundred lying in line on the bluff 
and a good position to hold to. He then told me that one of my 
men had gotten away and came up the bluff and told him that the 
rebels had surrounded the advance guard and had killed the ser- 
geant and would capture all the rest. That he was the only man to 
get away. The Colonel then asked me if the Sergeant was killed. I 
had to tell him no, for I was the Sergeant in command of the ad- 
vance and had lost only one man. He then asked me if I was not 
wounded. I took off my hat and showed it to him and also showed 
him the legs of my pants which had a couple of bullet holes in them. 
"Well," he said, "this beats anything I ever saw for a few men. 
You made noise enough on both sides for a thousand." I then asked 
him if I should advance over the river. He told me not to — that 
General Clayton had forbid him to cross Saleane River — but to go 
down and bring my men back and we would camp there. He said : 
"I am going to find out the result of this engagement, for it was a 
sharp one." The boys had been looking for the missing one, but 
could not find him. He was a German whose name was John Lut- 
man. He had been a good soldier and belonged to my platoon. We 
went to our horses back of the log buildings. The men said it had 
hailed bullets up there but they wxre all right. The first man I 
saw when I went up to my horse was John Lutman sitting quietly 
in his saddle. I spoke to him and asked him how he got there. He 
did not seem to know anything that had happened nor could he 
tell me. I had told the boys that John was shot. He threw his 
carbine down near me and was jumping up and down the last I 
saw of him. We could not find a scratch on him. He was the man 
who had run and made the report to the Colonel. He was nearly 
crazy. 



72 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 

The enemy retreated and we went and investigated a few 
camps and found several bodies in the willows and several wounded 
in a house, and brought back some twenty-five guns. This was my 
last engagement during the war. My time had expired long before 
we started out. Had we not taken the position we did quickly, 
there would not have been a man left to tell the story. Such is war. 

After our return to Pine Blufif we did outpost duty and waited 
for orders to be sent home as our time had expired. We were re- 
lieved from duty about the 20th of December, 1864, and we were to 
go to Little Rock to be mustered out. A few nights before we left 
1 was sent to report to General Erskins. I did not know what I 
was called for but I went. On arriving there I saw Sergeant Hesty 
of Company A and Sergeant Luther of Company C. The General 
said he wanted to have a talk with us three Sergeants as we would 
be mustered out in a few days and leave the regiment. He then 
said: "AVe can't get along without you and I want you to re-enlist 
as veterans. I have places to put you and the papers are in my 
tent. The regiment wants you and 1 want to give you a place." 
This was a surprise to us three Sergeants, but we had filled our po- 
sitions on the tield and had already been promoted unknown to us, 
but neither of us had been home for over three years and had stuck 
to our posts of duty through trials and danger, and we finally made 
up our minds to go home before this interview. All of us failed to 
accept the promotion at that time. The Colonel was disappointed 
for he had hoped that we would remain. We had known him for 
over three years. He was a Lieutenant at the beginning and had 
been promoted gradually until he had been made Brigadier Com- 
mander and knew his men well. 

In a few days we arrived at Little Rock and on the last day 
of Decemljer, 1864, we were mustered out. . The following day we 
received transportation for Chicago, Illinois, to receive final pay 
and papers. It was a long journey and took us about two weeks to 
get through. We went from Little Rock to Devolls Bluff by rail- 
road, then down White river and up the Mississippi to Cairo, where 
we had to remain a few days for transportation to Chicago over the 
Illinois Central railroad. After lea\'ing Cairo we were left at Cen- 
tralia on the side track at night. We only occupied two coaches as 
our regiment had been reduced to 100 men. These men were under 
command of Ca4itain G. Allen May. While on the side track at 
Centralia the Captain and some of the others got oft' and went to 



THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 73 



the depot, ^^'e found out that the balance of the train had gone to 
St. Louis and we would have to remain on the side track until 9 
o'clock the next morning for a train to Chicago. 1lie depot was 
large, the night was cold and we were standing near the stove talk- 
ing over what to do as our rations had run out. The station agent 
told us we would have to go out as he closed uj) at 12 o'clock and 
did not allow anyone to remain in the depot after that time. Cap- 
tain Mav looked at the agent and I knew he would liring him to 
time for I knew him well. He asked him if he was the agent of that 
depot and he said he was. The men were sitting two in a seat in 
the coaches and the captain told me and several other Sergeants to 
tell our men to come and bring their blankets and make up their 
bunks on the floor of the depot and then told the agent to stand by 
the stove and keep a good fire until he got a train to take us to Chi- 
cago. He said: "I will give you to understand that 1 am going to 
run this until you do." We soon had our men in comfortable quar- 
ters for the night and laid down to sleep. The next morning aboui 
7 o'clock we were all standing around the depot. We had not haa 
any breakfast as our rations had run out and we had no money tor 
we were to be paid when we reached Chicago. We soon heard some 
breakfast bells ringing and you could see a group of the boys make 
to a hotel or restaurant, go in and wash and take seats and get up 
like men, take their hats and thank the landlord. What else could 
we do? We had been cavalrymen long enough and had made up 
our minds never to go hungry if the chickens did roost high. That 
was our last meal on the route. We arrived in Chicago that night 
and went to Soldiers' Home where we remained until we received 
our final pay and papers, which was some three or four days. We 
then took our depature our our long looked for homes. I had 
not been at home and had not received a furlough. I took the train 
for Bristol, Illinois, my old home, and then three miles into the 
country to my mother's house. My mother was a widow. I ar- 
rived there about 11 o'clock at night. I rapped at the door and I 
heard her voice. She said: "Charley, is that you?" I told her it was. 
She had seen five of her boys go to the army and I was the first to 
go and the second to return. One could never return for he fell in 
Georgia. One had returned badly wounded and she had cared for 
him. No tongue could describe the anxiety that mother had during 
those four years of struggle, for her boys. ■ Manj^ "Oervent prayer 



74 THREE YEARS IN THE SADDLE. 



had been rendered to the God of Battle for her boys. She was a 
]:)atient mother.. .She was a granddaughter of an officer in the 
Revolutionary AVar and had seen her own husband, after l)eing 
married to lum, take his musket and march to the front in defense 
of his country. 

Aly reader. I have told you the story of the war as I saw it. 
Be true to your country and flag and remember the Boys in Blue. 

CHARLES D. FIELD, Co. F and Co. C, 

Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry. 



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